My Two Informants
A week had come and gone and the new semester was beginning. There were many new faces, many eager unicorns but this semester felt a bit different. Like the last semester, I was excited to start helping new students with their magical abilities but it seemed like I could relate with this class more. Last semester when classes began all the unicorns seemed the same but with this semester it felt different. I could tell differences in the unicorns simply by noticing the way they conducted themselves. Of course there are unicorns of all heritages here at the university but there were a few who seemed to take things much more seriously, ones that would come by my office at times just to visit, the Eastern Unicorns.
I do remember one afternoon a couple of them had dropped by my office and said that they wanted to discuss some things in private. So I closed the door and we began our discussion. One was a blue stallion with a yellow shooting star for a cutie mark named Yellow Star and the other was a white mare with a deep blue four pointed star rising from a flat surface named Morning Glory. They had concerns about some of the other students studying magic and needed to voice their concerns.
Morning Glory asked, "Professor Starlight, can I tell you something and you won't tell anypony."
With them being Eastern Unicorns I felt a closer connection to them. I replied, "Sure, and you can just call me Starlight."
Morning Glory continued, "Well Starlight, there are a couple of unicorns in some of our other classes that really seem to flaunt their talents."
Yellow Star asked, "Do the names Party Favor and Sugar Belle sound familiar to you?"
I replied, "Yes, those two were in my class last semester. How is it that they are flaunting their talents?"
Morning Glory stated, "Well we share a house with those two along with two other ponies. I often times offer to cook supper and make desserts for us but Sugar Belle always butts in and says that she will make the desserts. She has never even once just relaxed and let me or anypony else fix dessert."
Yellow Star added, "And we do throw parties as well. Before Party Favor moved in, I was normally the one who would decorate but once he moved in, he insisted that he be the one to decorate since it is his special talent."
I asked, "Do you share that house with any other ponies?"
Morning Glory replied, "Yes, we also share the house with a white earth pony stallion with three snowflakes for a cutie mark and has a white mane and tail. He is huge into skiing and the other is a dark blue pegasus mare with a white and gray mane and tail along with a white moon cutie mark."
I asked, "What are the names of these two?"
Morning Glory replied, "Well the stallion is named Double Diamond and the mare is named Night Glider."
My jaw dropped open. Those were the two non-unicorns who signed up for my General Magic course last fall. I actually began to wonder about not just those two, but the two unicorns they have concerns about as well. I asked "Are those four pretty close?"
Yellow Star replied, "Yes, they are extremely close. They seem to just tolerate us. We have tried to get closer to them but they just don't want to. I'm not sure why, but they just don't."
While they were standing there telling me all of this, the wheels in my head began to turn. I asked, "You wouldn't happen to know what these four are majoring in would you?"
Yellow Star replied, "I do. Party Favor and Night Glider are both geology majors, Double Diamond is a Pre-Med student and Sugar Belle is a geography major."
I asked, "How interested in ancient unicorn magic are those four."
Morning Glory replied, "They are all very interested in it. They seem to focus almost all their interest in Celestial magic. They don't care too much about Eastern Unicorn magic but said that if they had a chance to visit an important site involving it, that they would."
I began to rub my hooves together and got a sinister smile on my face. I could tell by the looks on their faces that they were kind of concerned as to what my motives were regarding the information they provided me. I gave them a confident smile and said, "You know something, I think I know how to put those four in their place."
Morning Glory asked, "And how are you going to do that?"
I replied, "Once the end of the semester gets here, tell them to come to meet me at the train station on the first Monday after the end of finals week. Since they are interested in visiting sites relevant to magic, I am thinking that they could accompany me to this site out in the northeast desert." I gave them a more intense look and continued, "And DO NOT mention my name. Simply tell them that a friend is interested in going there."
Morning Glory asked, "I'm sure they will ask what this friend's name is. What name do you want us to give them?"
I replied, "Pink Sky. That should work."
Yellow Star asked, "Wait a minute, they will be able to tell who you are by your cutie mark and your mane style."
I replied, "I will simply have to hide my cutie mark and I will go to the salon the weekend before I take them out there."
Yellow Star asked, "Will you ever take us out there since it is a place with significance to magic?"
I replied, "For now I want for you two to wait to visit this place until I have done what I want to do. I have special plans for those four. It is something that I really can't reveal right now but once I take them out to visit this place in the summer, could you let other ponies that seem to be like those four that are interested in magic know about this old community out in the northeastern desert? Let them know that if they wish to know more about magic, to visit it."
Yellow Star asked, "But what if they don't know where in the desert to go?"
I replied, "Just refer to it as a community of significance regarding magic and they will know where to go."
They both nodded and left my office. I knew that I would have to make a few changes to my appearance. For starters, I would have to change the style in which I wear my mane and tail. I would also need to find a way to disguise my cutie mark. If I am to equalize these four, I need to make it look like I have the same mark as they will have after I take their marks. I suddenly realized that this is where the staff I found would be useful.
The Second Trip to the Desert
The semester seemed to drag by as I knew that beginning that summer, that I would begin the next phase of fulfilling not only my destiny, but fulfilling the old Eastern Unicorn prophecy as well. After finals week I went out and took care of things that I would need. I bought some pink powder that matched my coat, a black equal sign cut out and some black powder to make it appear as though I had the equals sign cutie mark. I also headed to the salon and had my mane styled. I chose a style that was popular in the big city. I figured that they would be far less likely to figure out who I am like that.
When Monday morning arrived I woke up early and had a huge breakfast. I knew that this would be the last decent meal that I would have for quite some time but this was part of my destiny. Besides, Mage Meadowbrook lived for an extremely long time without eating good meals so for me to not do what I need to do to avenge the ponies of the East, that would basically be spitting in the face of my heritage.
As I was heading out the door I checked in my apartment one more time to make sure that I hadn't forgot anything. I then saw my staff in a corner in my bedroom and realized that I better grab it. After all, I can't have them thinking that an equalized pony can do what I plan on doing. They have to think it is the staff that has the power, not me.
When I arrived at the train station there were four ponies waiting for me there, Night Glider, Sugar Belle, Party Favor and Double Diamond. While the four had seen and met me before, they could not tell who I was.
I asked, "Hello everypony! Are you ready for this trip?"
Night Glider replied, "Of course we're ready. Anything involving learning about magic I will always be up for!"
Sugar Belle saw my staff and asked, "Pink Sky, what is up with the staff?"
I replied, "It is an important magical relic that has a a great amount of significance to the place we are going."
She nodded and all of us boarded the train.
Once we boarded the train and it began to head towards the outpost, I started thinking of how I was going to do this, down to every little detail. Do I equalize them the second we reach the town? Do I show them the cutie mark vault first and then equalize them? Do I wait a day or two? By the time we reached the outpost I had made my decision. I would equalize them when I take them to the cave. Then a sudden thought crossed my mind, how am I going to get them to stay out here? I doubted that simply taking their marks would cause them to want to stay. I would have to find a way to brainwash them so that they would stay.
After I finished thinking of how I would do this I decided that if I know how they get along with others, I might be able to get an idea as to how I could get them to stay. I asked them, "You four seem to be really close. Are you all really good friends?"
Sugar Belle replied, "Yes, we are all very close."
I asked, "What about others? How well do you get along with other ponies?"
Sugar Belle replied, "I don't get along well with other ponies besides these three. I think they are jealous of my talent in making desserts."
I asked, "What about the rest of you?"
Party Favor replied, "I'm in the same situation as Sugar Belle. I have a great talent at throwing parties and it seems like our other two housemates envy me."
Double Diamond added, "Well I am a great skier and when I am around other ponies that are into winter sports, they seem to shun me because of my talent."
Night Glider continued, "And it seems like other ponies really envy my ability to identify constellations in the night sky."
I asked, "How does that make all of you feel? Do you ever feel like other ponies think of themselves as better than you despite you having these talents."
Double Diamond replied, "It makes us feel awful. I will admit, it angers me that these other ponies hate me over my talent."
Party Favor added, "And even though I have thrown many great parties, Yellow Star seems to think that he is better at throwing parties since he did so good before I moved in."
I asked, "Speaking of Yellow Star, how do the four of you get along with him."
Party Favor replied, "Oh Yellow Star, we really don't get along with him nor do we get along with Morning Glory."
I asked, "Are those two your housemates?"
Party Favor replied, "Yes, unfortunately they are."
Night Glider added, "They just seem off. I don't know why, but they just seem to have this idea that we should let them help with things even though the things they want to help with are our special talents."
Sugar Belle added, "I think they are Eastern Unicorns. I have heard that they are like that. They like to do too much and try to help out in things they are not familiar with." She sighed and continued, "Why must Eastern Unicorns be like that? Why can't they be like the rest of us?"
It seemed like the longer we talked the more I wanted to smack them. I could tell that they viewed themselves as superior to not just Eastern Unicorns, but Eastern ponies to start with. It is odd really, I never paid much attention to the differences between Western and Eastern ponies until I did all that research on Meadowbrook. Ugh this train can't get to the outpost soon enough, I want to get these four equalized as quickly as possible.