//------------------------------// // 0-2: Magic Kindergarten Incognito // Story: Harry is a Little Ho(a)rse at Hogwarts // by Teraunce //------------------------------// (Sept. 994 Celestial Era) Packing “her” saddlebags for her first day at Magic Kindergarten, Stellar Flare asks, “Now you're sure you have everything you'll need for Magic Kindergarten, Dawn Thunder?” Responding somewhat petulantly, Dawn answers, “I do mom, but why do I have to be a filly to go to Magic Kindergarten?” “We've gone over this already Dawn. Since you as Lightning are officially a pegasus and you insist on keeping your color scheme, you have to be a filly to avoid notice. Even Celestia can only make up so much paperwork and you know as well as I do that she isn't going to let you get your basic magic license without taking the classes.” “I know. I just don't like the thought of being a filly for the next several months while doing this.” “You'll be fine, Dawn. Now, let's get going,” Stellar says as she places the saddlebags on the red-maned orange-yellow-coated “unicorn” filly's back, before leading the way to the school. (1st Period: Magic 101) Dawn followed her classmates into a kindergarten classroom that would not be alien to us humans, full of learning toys with some familiar desks facing a teacher’s desk in front of a blackboard with chalk. Dawn sat in one of the back chair/desk combos trying to avoid attention, still a bit uncomfortable with pretending to be her own fake female cousin. “Hello class and welcome to Magic 101. My name is Mr. Quill. Here we'll be teaching you the basics of spell-work with the toys around the room,” said the purple-maned, brown-coated unicorn stallion. “Now before we begin with learning, let’s introduce ourselves, starting with the back row.” “He-Hello, I-I’m Vanilla S-Sparks,” stutters out a shy unicorn filly with a yellow mane and a white coat. Disgruntledly, Dawn Thunder speaks up next saying, “I’m Dawn Thunder.” Thirdly, a green zonycorn with purple stripes and cyan mane says, “My name is Zour Grapes. I like candy and japes. I think I’m pretty good at rhyme, but one thing you won’t find is thyme.” Moving on, the students continued saying their names, the second-to-last student being a blue unicorn with a red mane who introduced herself as, “I’m Redshock and I enjoy illusions.” Lastly a purple furred, pink maned unicorn filly stated, “I hope my presence helps you all Find Joy here, as I’m Joy Finder.” “Now that we have all introduced ourselves, let me go over some things you should know. Firstly, you will all be together for all your classes. Secondly, here are your class schedules for the rest of the semester,” Mr. Quill says as he hoofs them out, before continuing: “Now who can tell me why unicorns can cast magic while other ponies can’t?” Dawn raises her hoof alongside a few others, but Mr. Quill eventually picks: “Joy Finder?” “Mom says it’s because we have natural focuses in the form of our horns.” “Your mom is quite smart, Joy. It is those which allow us to focus our magic. Now how many of you can levitate stuff or create a light?” Mr. Quill asks. A few hooves raise up and he continues: “Good. Now I’ll ask you to show me one at a time what you can do using these cubes over here on the table so I know what we have to work on.” Like little ducklings, the ponies came up to the testing station and showed off what they could do. Dawn herself managed to make the cube wobble and produced a tiny emerald light from his horn. Some others managed better, some fared worse, but in the end, Mr. Quill says to their results, “Well you all are decently on your way, about where I expected you all to be. Now that we have that out of the way, for the rest of this period I want you all to practice meditating to help you bring out your inner spark. Close your eyes and listen to my voice and follow my instructions. Breathe in...and breathe out. Breathe in and breathe out. Now breathe in, gather your worries, and breathe them out….” And so, for the rest of the period Mr. Quill instructed them on meditation while having them find their magic source so they can more easily reach it. After that they moved to a few other classes where they learned their letters, numbers, and how to write letters with their mouth. All standard Kindergarten stuff, complete with some playtime and lunch. After school, Stellar picks Dawn up and asks, “So how was your first day of school Dawn? As bad as you imagined it to be? Made any new friends?” “It was a good day and a couple of them seemed nice, Mom. One striped pony even rhymed his name,” Dawn answers with a smile towards her mother. “I’m glad to hear that, Dawn. I baked your favorite fish dish in celebration. Hopefully the rest of this year continues to be as fun for you,” Stellar responds as she leads her daughter home for the celebration dinner. And so the rest of the year progressed with more learning and friendship making. Here are just some of the lessons learned in magic class: “Now class, who can tell me what Unicorn horns are made of?” Mr. Quill asks. He waits as hooves shoot up, before calling on the shy Vanilla Sparks. “Th-they are made of al-ali-alicornium wh-which acts as a natu-natural focus,” she manages to stutter out. Mr. Quill smiles broadly as he responds: “That is correct, Vanilla and even our horns aren’t perfect magic focuses. Zour Grapes, how well do you think our horns channel magic?” Zour replies with the rhyme: “My mother once said hers was under half, so on that I hope I don’t gaffe.” Mr. Quill then turns his smile to Zour as he says: “You did not make a gaffe, for most are about half…,” before mumbling quietly something unkind about contagious rhyming and then continuing: “At the end of this semester we’ll test how efficient your horns all are, and if they all are above the average par.” “What are the three most basic spells all unicorns learn and can use everypony?” Mr. Quill asks his class before adding, “You already know two of them.” Amidst a sea of raised hooves Mr. Quill picks Joy Finder who then answers with, “Light, Levitation, and...Stun Bolt?” “Right you are, Joy. The last basic spell is Stun Bolt, which stuns an opponent. They are all also special in that they, like most unicorn spells, are Grey Magic. Anyone care to guess what feelings are needed to cast Light Magic?” Redshock is picked from a sea of raised hooves and hesitatingly answers: “Good ones like love and happiness?” “Good job Redshock,” Mr. Quill congratulates her before continuing with another question: “Can anyone guess the type of magic invoked when everyone starts singing together? How about you answer this one Dawn?” “Harmony magic?” Dawn hesitatingly guesses in answer to the asked question, unsure of herself. “Also correct Dawn. You’ll be mostly learning Grey Magic spells in school, except for Illusions if you have a knack for them, as they fall under the umbrella of Shadow Magic. If you prove really adept you might get invited to Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns here in Canterlot where you’ll learn more advanced spells,” Mr. Quill finishes his lesson off with that day. “Now remember class: this final test has both a written and practical part. Go in there and do us all proud so we don’t have to reteach you and you don’t have to retake my class,” Mr. Quill warns them and wishes them luck as they shuffle into the room and sit at their desks quietly. First up is the written exam where they are given a couple hours to take the test, consisting of multiple choice questions and a few short answer questions. Next up was the practical, where they had to show how many cubes they could hold up before being required to use their light spell and then lastly being asked to stun a teacher in order to be judged on how well they did. Stellar asks Dawn as she exits the schoolhouse: “How well did you do Dawn? Did you pass Magic Kindergarten?” “I did, mom, and I’m glad I can finally stop being a girl and go back to being a boy,” answers Dawn before pondering, “Hey mom, don’t pegasi channel magic through their wings to fly?” “Yes they do Dawn,” responds Stellar cautiously, curious as to why her youngest was asking such a question. Dawn queries further, “Do you think I could use unicorn magic through my wings mom?” Sighing, Stellar answers, “I don’t know, but then again I don’t know of any other pegasi that have gone through Magic Kindergarten. If you can it will be a major thing that will make some other nobles mad.” She sighed, before continuing: “You can try in the training room in the house but only there.” “Sure mom. I also can’t wait for that flight tutor to help me learn how to fly,” Dawn says with a brief bit of pronking. “That will also be nice, Dawn. If you want to mail any letters to any friends you made in Magic Kindergarten, give them to me and I’ll mail them for you. Friendship is magic after all and I want you to remember that,” Stellar says before sighingly whispering sadly, “even if your sister never seemed to learn that.” “Thanks mom,” Dawn smilingly answers as they make it home and have a celebratory dinner.