//------------------------------// // Chapter Three. The Three Dreamers // Story: Starlight Rising // by Priestess Kyoko //------------------------------// Four days later... "Alchemy, Studies in Nature Magic, Equestrian History, and Defensive Magical Study. Quite the list, Star, but I don't see many fillies joining the defense classes." Luna walked beside Star, who trotted giddily towards her first day at school. Star was clad in a silver cloak that hung just slightly above the ground behind her hooves. On each side hung a purple saddle bag packed full of anything and everything a school-bound filly could need. Quills, a capped inkwell, notebooks, scrolls, and course materials. Luckily the alchemy equipment was provided in class. "But I have to learn it if I'm going to be a guard someday!" said Star, as if the answer was completely obvious, and Luna chuckled lightly. Children always had the most charming plans for their future. "I see, well then you'd better pay special attention in that class. Oh, and your homeroom class is Basic Magic, with Ms. Lily." Luna smiled as she read over the scroll where Star's day to day classes were listed. "Huh? "Basic Magic"?" Star ceased her trotting and turned towards Luna, a confused look in her eyes. "But I thought you said my magic was unique?" Star protested. Luna halted in mid step, looking over at the confused filly. "Your magic is unique, Star." Luna assured her firmly but gently. "However," Luna turned towards her student, her wise voice low but assuring, "not all ponies may share the same ideas. I know what power you possess, but others do not. You will have to prove your potential to them through hard work. Basic Magic is only the beginning, little Star, but I know you'll do wonderful things no matter what magic class your attend." Star began to smile, beaming up as her teacher spoke with her head proudly held high. This was the Princess of the Night speaking, a ruler of Equestria recognizing her potential. What does a filly, especially one her age, say to that? Does a foal really even comprehend the significance of someone seeing your potential? Perhaps, at least in this case, Star understood just enough to reassure herself. "Okay Luna, Basic Magic it is then!" "Basic Magic?" A voice called off to the side. Star turned her head to see a chestnut coat looking at her, a smile on his face. "That's my homeroom too, you're in Basic Magic? Oh, and good morning Princess Luna." Luna smiled, giving a slight bow of her head towards the young colt as she chimed in, "Good morning little one," Luna smiled and gave a polite bow of her head, "First day and you already have a friend. Go on, introduce yourself. Have a good first day, you two." Luna said with a smile towards Star. The Princess then turned and began her walk back to the castle. "Thank you Luna!" Star waved as the Princess left, then turned towards the colt. He was a light chestnut brown, with a mane that fell over his red-brown eyes to the point where it was difficult to tell if he could actually see clearly. His saddle bags were a dark green, and seemed even more full of books than Star's. "I'm Star!" Star exclaimed happily. "I'm Ember," The colt offered politely, "so you're in basic magic too?" He asked. Star nodded quickly. "Yep! Well... Princess Luna says I shouldn't be, but I'll just have to prove them wrong! I'm going to be a guard someday after all, and Luna's going to teach me all the magic she knows!." Ember and Star turned towards the front double doors of the school. Dozens of ponies from their age to young adults were making their way inside and to their first classes. "You're going to be a guard and the Princess is teaching you?" Ember asked, his widened eyes giving away his surprise. "I'm going to be a guard too! Well... sort of. I'm going to be a blacksmith; my dad's a blacksmith for the Canterlot Royal Guard." "Woah, a blacksmith? That sounds so cool, you'll make all the armor for everypony!" Star grinned as Ember seemed to enjoy her enthusiastic reply. "It's going to be hard though, my dad says it takes years to learn everything," said Ember just before Star slightly stumbled over her cloak. "Isn't it a little to warm for a cloak?" He asked with a tilt of his head. "To warm indeed." A voice chimed in. Ember's ears fell back as Star looked over at the source of the voice. Standing with his nose up, was a pale blue stallion. His mane was neatly combed, and his tail tied up so it wouldn't touch the floor. Beside him was a light purple filly with shining blue eyes and a smirk plastered across her lips. A quick glance over revealed that both had already acquired a cutie mark, the colt having a single silver lightning bolt, and the filly with a sapphire gem. Ember sighed and rolled his eyes before quietly speaking. "Come on Star, we'll be late for class." "You'll be late every day if she insists on wearing such ridiculous clothing." The purple filly giggled. "Maybe I like wearing my cloak. Why do you care?" Star protested in a way that was just as defensive as it was confused at the words of the older filly. Bullies... I never liked them. Perhaps if they knew who you were... What would your father think? The voice that seemed like a disembodied whisper distracted Star just long enough for the filly to step forward quickly and lightly flick the clasp of Star's cloak with her hoof. The clasp released, and under the weight of Star's saddlebags, fell to the ground. As if on instinct, Star's wings unfurled as she shook off the voice to face the colt and filly. "My father is Prince Shining Armor of the Royal Canterlot Guard! I don't think he would like hearing about you being mean to me." Star said defensively as a flick of magic brought her cloak off the ground and clasped at her chest. Her saddlebags followed after, luckily without any spilling of organized scrolls and books. "Shining Armor," The colt said with surprise, though he seemed more surprised at seeing Star's alicorn status. "Huh, an alicorn in school. So, you're in our class then; Advanced Magic. Right?" "Come on Stormcall, leave her alone already." Ember stepped in, putting himself between Star and the colt. Stormcall scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Well? Are you in the class or not?" Stormcall urged as he walked around to Star's side. "No, I'm in Basic Magic." Star's firm statement earned a sudden rush of laughter from Stormcall and the filly made Star step back. "An alicorn in a basic class? Sapphire and I are barely a moon older than you by the look of it, and you're in a basic class. Aren't you suppose to be more powerful than all of us?" Star's brow furrowed and she opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by Stormcall. "Alicorns are the top magic users in Equestria. I'd get out of the basic class and up to where the real unicorns are. You wouldn't want to be the only Alicorn to be so... average, would you?" Stormcall smirked as Star seemed to want to speak, but only stared at him with narrowed eyes. Ember stepped over suddenly, coming nose to nose with Stormcall. "And you wouldn't want to be caught talking to a Princess like that, would you?" Ember's eyes narrowed into a glare, but Stormcall smiled calmly. "Hmph. Princess or not, Alicorns are known for powerful magic. There's nothing basic about them. My advice, get yourself to the Advanced classes, Princess. In this school, you're nothing special without the magic to back it up." Star was left with Stormcall's smirk as he pulled his head back calmly while turning his back on the duo who stood as if ready to fight. Ember snorted shortly and turned back towards star after the older foals had rounded a hallway corner. Star's cloak hovered back to tie itself around her neck with a blue aura of magic. Lastly her books and supplies neatly placed themselves in her saddlebags before coming to rest on her back. Turning on their heels, Star and Ember walked away from the scene of the encounter. "Stormcall and Sapphire. Stormcall's mom is some prim and proper mare with a big name in Canterlot. She owns a salon in the market square. Sapphire's his adopted sister. I usually avoid them; nice seeing that someone stands up to them." "Oh, well... I don't usually do that, it was just, well, sudden..." Star said as she glanced over her shoulder at where the four once stood. "Are they always so...?" "Stuck up? Yep, unfortunately--" A loud bell toll cut off Ember, "That's homeroom bell, come on--we're late!" Ember and Star took off down the halls as fast as their little legs could carry them. "Take your seats, fillies and colts." A soft voice called from the front of the class. The voice belonged to a pale green unicorn mare. Her white mane, which had a single pale pink stripe, was neatly pinned up in a pony tail. She was young, even for a teacher, but her appearance and expression seemed to glow with knowledge and wisdom. Ember and Star came running in just as most had already found a seat. "Sorry we're late Ms. Lily, we had some trouble getting here." Ember said quickly. "Not to worry you two, the first day is always the most overwhelming. Take a seat, you won't be marked tardy today." Ms. Lily smiled as Star and Ember both hopped into the nearest two seats where they could sit together. "Well then, are we all here now?" The resulting nods from the students gave a simultaneous yes. "Good. Welcome to Basic Magic. I'm Ms Lily, I'll be your teacher this year. In this class we will be exploring your individual talents in magic, as well as universal practices that all unicorns know. Now, since we're all new here, why don't we introduce ourselves?" This is usually the part where students shrug and sigh in an annoyed way, but for most of the class the reaction was excited. This was a chance to make themselves known; to make their make on their peers. Even Star was a little excited behind her nervousness. How does a Princess introduce herself? Does she use proper language? Does she bow deeply and use a grand title like the princesses in storybooks? Her mother never said anything about introductions in a classroom. Then the introductions started; Arrow, whose father ran a successful restaurant. Blossom, who told of her talent being in the care of plants, and a hoof-full of other students that each took their time to make themselves known among their peers. When Ember's turn came around, the eager colt stood up on his chair, his front hooves planted firmly on the top of his desk. "Hello everypony, I'm Ember. My father's a blacksmith at the Princess's castle and when I grow up, he's going to teach me everything he knows! By the time I'm out of here, I'm going to be the greatest blacksmith in Canterlot!" By the time Ember was done speaking, the glow of pride around him was enough to make Star smile at seeing how sure this foal was of his future. "Your turn," said Ember as he handed over the attention to Star. A moment of silence followed as Star scanned the room, quietly sizing up the pairs of eyes who looked to her as if to top what Ember had said. Well? They're waiting... They're waiting for you. Remember little Star, you are a Princess... The voice again. Eerily quiet and distant yet warm and embracing. Ember's confident smile was the final sight her violet eyes fell upon before a wisp of magic pulled back the cloak to reveal two tiny, unfurled wings. Quietly and gracefully, Star stood up tall on her seat and smiled politely. "My name is Princess Starlight Cadenza. My father is Prince Shining Armor, Captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard. It's nice to meet you all." Star's introduction kept some silent. Others looked to Ms. Lily to see how they should react. The teacher smiled and politely gave a slight bow of her head. "Princess Luna informed me of you attending this year, Starlight. I'm sure we're all glad to meet you as well," said Ms. Lily, who heard the tiniest scoff from the back of the room. It came from a light pink filly who crossed her hooves defiantly. She glanced across Ember's desk towards Star. "Nice grab for being teacher's pet." The filly murmured to herself. Ember reacted far faster than Star could have. "She doesn't need to try and be teacher's pet. Princess Luna is teaching her too." Ember said without so much as giving the filly a glance over his shoulder. "That's enough you two, I won't have squabbling in this class. Learning magic is a very delicate process, and is dangerous when first learning new spells. Fighting only leads to you losing your focus, and in this class that is a very bad thing to do." Ms. Lily said firmly, her eyes traveling between Ember and the other filly. "Now, as homework, I want you each to explore what magic has already come naturally to you and categorize it. There are seven types of magic, Augmentation, Kinetic, Arcane, Divination, Oracle, Elemental, and of course, Wild. You will find a definition and examples of each type in your "Basic Laws of Magic" textbooks on page eleven. If you have any trouble categorizing your form of magic, look for the closest match and I will help you individually tomorrow. For today's lesson, take out your Basic Laws text book and turn to page three. We will be covering the rules of learning magic; something every unicorn must learn before taking their first steps in magical practice." Star smiled as she pulled her textbook out of her saddlebag and placed it neatly in the center of the table. She set her cloak lightly over the bags on the ground, and turned to page three. As Celestia's sun moved ever slowly west in the sky, the school day came to a short pause with all classes being let out for lunch. Most took to the cafeteria, but two foals left with food trays in tow to walk to the outside tables. The outer courtyard was placed in the middle of the campus, with classrooms laid in a circular pattern around it. Lining the edge were various benches and wooden tables that seemed faded from exposure to the sun. "I didn't know Basic Magic had so many rules." Ember's tray of food hovered above him as he walked to the nearest empty table and hopped up into a seat. Star was not far behind, and jumped into the seat next to him. "Me neither, I would have expected that for Advanced Magic," said Star, as she took a bite out of a green apple, "I wonder what our magic categorizes as. What's yours?" "Definitely Augmentation," Ember said through a mouthful of cupcake, "smithing requires it to receive training; if you can't work the forge with augmentation magic, then you can't complete the training. What about you?" "I'm not sure yet... I'll read the section tonight and see but I have to do it after I'm done in the castle library; Princess Luna and I are looking for books there!" "You should've seen the look on Lavender's face when she heard you were being taught by Luna," Ember said with a laugh, setting his cupcake down long enough to speak, "it was priceless. Nopony'll think twice about messing with the student of a Princess. You're set for the whole school year." "I would rethink that last statement." A familiar voice called, one that made Ember roll his eyes. Glancing over their shoulders, the duo found themselves looking back at Stormcall. "Nopony is untouchable here." "What now Stormcall?" Ember rolled his eyes as he spoke. "I was just wondering how your first class went, that's all." "It was fine, thank you." It was Star's turn to speak, and she did so in a firm way. Letting Ember take the brunt of Stormcall's talk was not an option now; the stun of the first day had worn off with homeroom and Equestrian History. "...is there anything else?" she added quickly, as if unsure of the addition. "Indeed. I hear your in the apprenticeship of Princess Luna." "You bet your left hoof she is." Ember said bluntly. "Interesting," Stormcall paused as if taking the confirmation into account, "a shame. Why would she waste her--" "'Ey there Stormcall, lay off will ya?" A fourth voice joined in, originating from some distance across the outside courtyard. Stormcall's gaze traveled to his left to find himself watching possibly the tiniest filly anypony had ever seen strutting towards him as if she owned the world. Each step was deliberate and confident. The dark blue filly walked until she was nose to nose with the foal who seemed twice her size. "You sir, need a lesson or two in leaving others alone. Take a lesson from the artists here and brush off, huh?" Her golden gaze narrowed as she turned on her heels and flicked her tail across his face before strutting towards Ember and Star. "Indigo," Stormcall cleared his throat in an irritated way, "What a... pleasure, to have you here." "Yeah, I'm sure you're head over hoof, aren't ya?" Indigo countered with a toss of her ebony black mane. "Now I'm sure you have somewhere to be so we'll be seeing ya, right? Right. Trot along now." As if she was meant to be there, Indigo sprung her tiny frame into the seat across from Ember and Star, who stared at her in disbelief. "As a matter of fact, I do. Unfortunately you've wasted my time here. We'll just continue this later." Stormcall's gaze never left Indigo as he rounded the table and turned his back on the trio. Never once did he look back as he left them to their tableside talk. "Don't take it to heart guys, Stormcall's an ego trip just waiting to happen at every possible moment. So, what'cha names, hmm?" Ember and Star glanced at eachother once, then twice as if unsure of how to react to this nearly overwhelming personality. "Quiet ones, hmm? Hell then, I'll go first. Name's Indigo, I'm in Intermediate Magic. Working on being an designer; it's my talent," standing up on the chair, a flick of her tail directed their attention to her cutiemark, a paintbrush with a broad stroke of gold extending from the brush. "yep, got that little thing half a moon ago, designin' the layout of my studio. Hoping to set one up by the time I get outta here," as Indigo sat back down, she turned her attention towards Star, "So, what's the name Princess?" "Oh, uhh.. uh.." Star shook her head to regain her focus, "Starlight Cadenza-but call me Star... No cutiemark yet." Star said as steadily as she could. Indigo pointed her hoof at Ember. "What about you?" "Ember," the foal responded in a snap, "yeah, no cutiemark either." "Eh, don't get ya tails in a twist over it, everypony gets one sooner or later. What kinds'a magic ya working with?" "Augmentation, need to it be a guard-smith some day. Star here's gonna be a guard too." Ember replied as Indigo leaned forward on the table, slouching slightly. "No kiddin'? Kickin' tail with the uniform armor and everything? Not bad, not bad at all. You working with augmentation too kid?" "Well..." Star paused thoughtfully, "I'm not sure yet, I don't know what my magic is; I need to read the Basic Laws book first." "Fine by me. Basic hmm? Alrighty then, looks like I gotta transfer." Indigo tossed her head slightly, trying to get her long bangs to stay out of her face. "Transfer?" Ember asked, tilting his head. "Well duh, gotta be where the friends are, right?" Indigo spoke as if the answer was obvious, which earned a smile from Star. "Sure!" She exclaimed happily. "But, you're in Intermediate. Why go to Basic?" Ember asked, unsure if he should let the filly transfer to a lesser class. "Lemme tell ya a secret, kid. Basic, Intermediate, or Advanced, magic is worthless without the heart to back it up. And while you're learning skills in your class, you can bet your lucky horseshoe that you're learning more than the snobs in the "Advanced" classes ever will, 'cause all that mattered to those high society ponies is when the next party is so they can cozy up with others like them who wouldn't know more than a levitation spell if a spell book fell out of their flank." Indigo leaned forward on the table again as she spoke, her front hooves crossed and her gold eyes steady. "I'd rather learn some magic with a few friends than learn none with some stuck up know-it-alls." "So we're friends then?" Star cut in as soon as Indigo finished, and did so smiling. Indigo smirked and held her hoof out, "Ya learn quick, don't ya kid?" She responded sarcastically. Star smiled again and almost threw her hoof forward, meeting Indigo's with a sharp clop. "Now it's official. You in on this Ember?" Ember grinned widely, and joined in the hoofbump before the trio fell back onto their seats. "See y'all tomorrow in Basic Magic then. I gotta go get a transfer. Cya later kids."