Dear diary, last week, the king held a huge funeral in honor of the deceased queen. He was emotionally destroyed, and the speech was spoken by the tall, strong, intelligent, and handsome Sarge Raystorm, who took full responsibility of the tragedy. The only thing the king said was that all the hornless shall be banished from the city, and if they dare to approach the city again... they would be executed. Yikes, he was more angry than sad!
As for Princess Platinum, she had the nerve to not even attend the ceremony. She hasn't even shown her face to the public. I can't believe how that little brat found a way to disrespect her own mother! I don't think she ever understands how lucky she was! And the idea that, someday, she will be our leader just sickens me!
After writing some pages, she proudly closed her yellow diary and put it on the ground. She was a young white unicorn sitting under a withered pine in a small square in the center of the city. An old worn cape of a dark brown color covered her light grey coat, it was patched on several spots. And a hood of the same condition and color covered her head from the cold.
She took off the hood, revealing a long messy emerald colored mane, she aimed her horn at the small yellow book and with great effort, as if she was squeezing her head, and a weak green aura surrounded the book, which began to float inside a black saddle bag that the young unicorn was carrying on her side. ‘There’, she huffed.
"Wow, that was quite impressive, Clover!" said another pink unicorn filly who was sarcastically laughing behind her, "And I had sworn you were just an earth pony with a fake horn glued on your forehead. I guess I lost that bet."
"Oh, shut up, Jewel!" Clover frowned and walked away.
"Where are you going? Your house is over there," Jewel laughed again and pointed to the opposite direction of where Clover was heading, "Could it be...? Do you really plan on taking the exam? Hahaha! You know that's only for unicorns who can actually cast some magic, right?"
Clover ignored and kept walking toward a big stone building. She was not the only one going there, plenty of other colts and fillies were also heading there, even Jewel who was still behind her and still making jokes about Clover’s ‘lack of magic’.
All of this happened once every five years, when the current student of Starswirl’s Study graduates as a complete spellcaster, and a new one must be selected. The teacher, Starswirl, was said to be the greatest spellcaster in the city, and he was admired by everyone, but it's infamous for being lonely and he only leaves his study to practice his spells on the field with his pupil.
"Hello!" a light green mare approached Clover, she was wearing long pink scarf, and her pale yellow mane and tail were held by a ribbon of the same color, "sorry, I overslept…”
“Mom… again?” Clover giggled.
“Yes! Again! Shut up about it!” the mare giggled too and took out an apple and gave her to Clover, “Here, I brought you lunch!"
"Thanks, mom," Clover received a juicy apple from the mare, "You have presented the exam before, right?” she asked before munching the apple, “Is it really that hard? Is it theoretical or practical?"
"Ohh, it's not an exam, little one," answered her mother, she made an effort to comb the rebel mane of her daughter, "That would take way too much time, he just asks a few questions, like your name and experience, and then he decides if you're worthy or not."
"His pupils must be very good if he didn't accept you," Clover gulped, "you are excellent with magic, mom."
"Oh, stop it..." her mother blushed as red as the apple she gave to her daughter, "didn't you know? Starswirl hasn't had a pupil in ten years! Apparently, no unicorn has been worthy of his teachings, that could only mean that either a newcomer will be selected, or that there will be another five years with no pupil at all. I can't be there with you when he calls you, so remember, it's not about giving the right answers, it's about being honest."
The mare smiled and made a last meaningless effort to fix the filly's mane with her hoof, then she left to stand among a crowd that surrounded the building.
Hours passed and Clover got more and more nervous as she approached to the door, while other proud and confident unicorns showed off their magic skills while waiting for their turns. Some young unicorns could summoned books and feathers from their houses, and others could even teleport, spells that Clover could only dream to learn.
“There’s still time to withdraw,” said Jewel between yawns. Clover almost forgot that she was behind her in line.
As their turns arrived, several colts and fillies went inside before her, only to come out with disappointed faces. It was already getting dark when her turn had finally come. The door opened and another sad filly left the study. Then, a pale green mare wearing glasses and a star shaped brooch on her dark blue mane, she stared at Clover and smiled playfully, "come in, please, missy."
Clover went inside and walked among corridors decorated only with bookshelves as if the entire place was a huge library. The mare guiding her was mysteriously staring at the young filly from time to time, smiling with her eyes mid closed. ‘Even she is laughing at me’, thought Clover, she avoided eye contact and kept walking awkwardly. They walked upstairs three floors, and reached a wooden door that slowly opened.
"It's time, missy," the mare pushed Clover inside and closed the door, leaving her alone.
There he was, seated in front of a large wooden desk, there was a balcony behind him covered by red curtains. On the desk, a feather was dancing on a piece of paper, he didn't bother to look at Clover’s face. Clover stepped forward and opened her mouth, but before any word came out from her mouth, she was interrupted, "Don't you speak unless I require an answer from you, young one," warned Starswirl, and kept writing for at least an entire minute.
"Name," suddenly said Starswirl, still focused on the documents he was redacting.
"I am... I mean, my name is Clover," responded the filly, very nervously.
"How much experience do you have with magic? Have you shown exceptional magic skills since you were born and come from a long lineage of powerful spellcasters as well?"
"Well, I have done magic since I remember, and my mom is pretty good, but I..." Clover stopped for a second, she could hear the words of her mother echoing in the back of her mind, "the truth is, sir, that half of the unicorns out there are twice as better as me."
"I see... and what about the other half?" he asked, he left the feather resting on a bottle of ink next to the paper, and he finally turned his face to look at Clover.
"The other half are ten times as better as me..."
"If you think that? Why do you stand now before me? Why do you think you deserve to be my pupil?"
"Because I want to improve! Everyone laughs at me because I can barely cast some magic. They all talk down to me and it hurts, because all the things they say are true. For once, I'd like to be the one talking down to someone, but I don't want to be a bigmouth, I want to have the arguments to back my words. I want to show them how much it hurts when you are told the truth, and to show them that that truth can be used to improve!"
"Did you hear this, Laura? Laura, come here quickly!" Starswirl perked up his ears and bursted into laugh, Clover looked down in embarrassment and the green mare walked inside from the door behind her, somewhat annoyed.
"Master Starswirl, it's Laurel, not Laura," she said, she took another glance upon Clover and smiled again.
"Yes, of course!" he said, he opened the red curtains behind him and opened the door to the balcony, "here, bring the young filly, come on, waste no time."
The green mare took Clover over to the balcony and set her next to Starswirl, who cleared his throat, and raised his voice in front of the crowd before the balcony.
"Hear ye, hear ye! I, Starswirl, have finally found my new student!" Clover felt a tickling in her body as a golden aura surrounded her body, she was pulled off from the balcony and was exposed to the crowd, "Behold! The young unicorn, Flower!"
"It's Clover, not Flower, master Starswirl," Laurel whispered to his ear.
"What!? But my son hasn't even had his chance!" a stallion yelled from the crowd.
"I know, and we're really sorry!" claimed Starswirl, "Many young unicorns didn't even have their chance! And well, that's exactly what it means, they didn't even stand a chance! Don't feel discouraged, colts and fillies, keep practicing and wake up earlier next time! And now, without further ado, I declare that the test of this lustrum has concluded. Thank you for coming everyone!"
The unicorns began to leave, Clover stared from the balcony, among the angry and disappointed faces there was a single happy face that was waving at her. It was her mother, Clover waved back at her, very excited.
"Clover, please come inside," Laurel called for the young unicorn.
"Congratulations, young filly!" began Starswirl, he was holding a small golden brooch in the shape of a star, and placed it on Clover's chest, "This here is your 'I am Starswirl's student and therefore I am a more awesome unicorn than you are' token. With this, you and your family have free access to all the books in the all the libraries, including the ones in the castle, free meals in the cafeteria, and of course, free access to my study. However, the laboratory in the basement is off limits, unless I authorize it personally. Now leave, you'll start tomorrow morning!"
The golden aura surrounded Clover and Laurel, both were pushed outside the office and the door was slammed shut in front of their faces.
"You know? The token had an official name, but Master Starswirl forgot it," giggled Laurel, as she accompanied Clover to the entrance.
"This... this is just like yours," Clover compared to the one Laurel was wearing on her mane, "Then this means..."
"Yes, I am also Starswirl's student," Laurel rolled her eyes, "We haven't been properly introduced, my name is Laurel, I've been Starswirl's student for ten years, pleased to meet you. From the moment I laid my eyes on you, I felt so happy! I knew you were something special!"
"My name is Clover, and I'm sorry, I thought you were making fun of me when I met you."
"Don't worry about it."
"So... did you know he was going to choose me from the start?"
"Of course, I learned to feel a unicorn's magic by just looking at them, and you were... well, let's just say you were not like the others, but Starlight doesn't choose his student by the strength of their magic, but by their potential."
"Potential? How does he know how much potential I have? I can barely cast the telekinesis spell, and I feel exhausted when I do it. I saw plenty of unicorns with far more potential than me."
"There are different types of potentials, Clover. He'll explain tomorrow," Laurel opened the study's main door, they had arrived and Clover didn't even realise, "For now, you should go and have some rest, you'll need every bit of your energy for your first day. Besides, there's someone who wants to congratulate you." Laurel pointed at Clover's mother, and the young unicorn ran off to meet her, she turned around to wave goodbye to Laurel, who waved back before closing the door.
Clover woke up and jumped from her bed, she combed her mane, or at least she tried to, and proudly picked up her brown hood and put it on. Then, she set her sight on her pillow with adamant determination, she aimed her horn at it and made it float with great difficulty, her token was under the pillow, she took a deep breath and squeezed all the magic she could. The brooch also began to float from the bed and approached the young filly, until she couldn’t hold it anymore and her head began to weigh on her neck, the spell broke, and both the pillow and the brooch fell on the floor.
Exhausted, Clover decided to put her cape the old fashioned way, she placed her new token on her chest to fasten her cape, and she was ready to face the day. Opening the door of her bedroom, she found that there was a wooden box with a card.
Congratulations, little one! By now, you must be on your way to your first day, and I'm probably still snoring right now… yes, again! Now, I just wanted to tell you once again how proud you make me, and give you this little present.
I hope you like it… you better like it! It was really hard to get!
With love, your mom.
After hearing a loud roar coming from her mother's room, Clover chuckled and opened the box. She gasped when she found a brand new emerald green saddlebag with some white scrolls and a pack of red feathers. She wasted no time to put the feathers and the scrolls inside the saddlebag, and proudly put it on before trotting her way to the streets.
“Thanks, mom!”
She trotted across the street straight to Starswirl's Study, and stopped when she met face to face with Jewel. However, this time it was the pink unicorn who avoided eye contact, Clover couldn’t contain her smile and felt her chest filled with satisfaction, the urge to mock her was too big, but she didn't, she just walked past the pink unicorn and went on her way.
Once she arrived, Laurel received her with a warm hug and pure joy, she guided her to the classroom where Starswirl was writing the definition of magic in a blackboard in front of a small desk. Laurel pushed Clover inside and left her alone just like she did the day of the test. Clover took her seat and immediately after, Starswirl commenced the class.
"Welcome to your first day, Rubber!" said Starswirl.
"Uhh... it’s Clover… sir," corrected the young unicorn.
"Ah, yes, of course," continued Starswirl, "Anyway, tell me, do you know why did I choose you from among hundreds of other unicorns that are obviously more skilled than you? Most certainly, Louder already told you about your potential. How familiar are you with mathematical terms?"
"Uhh... I think I'm ok, I guess..."
"Good. You see, the potential of each unicorn is unique, and it can be represented in a mathematical graphic. This represents the current level of skill for each unicorn and how such skill will grow as time passes. And even if this potential is unique for each one, it behaves in a similar way in all the unicorns. There are three types of potential."
Starswirl turned around the blackboard and made a small piece of chalk float, he began to draw a curved line starting from a lower point, making a long, wide arc that slowly raised across the length of the board.
"This represents unicorns that learn fast. However, as you can see, when they reach to a certain point, their progress becomes more and more slow and their top level is not as impressive. Those who were 'twice as better as you' fit in this graphic."
Next he began to draw another curved line, this time starting from a higher point, it made a tall arc that raised fast to its peak and quickly began to decrease.
"This one represents those who are 'ten times as better as you'. Unicorns who are born with natural talent. Their level starts up high, and it quickly increases to reach their top potential. Because of their exceptional talent at young ages, these are the favorites for military or sportive purposes. However, as quickly as they grow, they also lose the ability to grow even further, and they lose their talent. You may say that they get old earlier."
Yet again, Starswirl began to draw another curved line on the blackboard. It also started from a low point, but the arc was inverted, and the line started to slowly move upwards across the blackboard.
"Unicorns who fit in this graph are rare. They start from the lowest point, and their progress is slow. Thus, they are inferior to the others at early ages. But their skill keeps growing as they age, and won't stop until they die. You, young one, belong in this type of potential. There is a catch, however, in order to increase your magic skill you need to train and study. That's why you are here. If you don’t do anything, your magic skill will stay where it is."
Starswirl turned the blackboard around again and continued. "Let's begin the real class, now. Magic is the science that studies the physical manifestation of the mind's power. Make no mistake, young one, you may have heard the term 'Magical Arts', but that just means that you can create art with magical properties. Magic is a science, it can be calculated and studied, and it doesn't matter who or where it is cast, it's the same formula for the same spell in any creature's mind."
"Any creature, master?" asked Clover with a confused look, "Does that mean that earth ponies could also cast magic?"
Starswirl laughed and palmed the filly's head before answering, "Hahaha! Even dragons and cockatrices can cast magic, Roller. I wouldn't be surprised if someday an earth pony can cast a spell or two. The only reason of why we unicorns can cast magic so easily, it's because our horns are a straight connection from our minds to the outside. But anyway, now that we got theory out of the way, it's time to put your magic to work, show me the best spell you can."
Clover focused really hard on the feather resting on her desk, her eyes closed as she cast the spell she's been practicing forever, the feather slowly began to levitate higher and higher. Clover opened her eyes to witness her feat, and saw the feather floating a few inches higher than Starswirl's height, but she lost concentration and the spell was broken. The feather drifted on the wind while falling to the floor before Starswirl's hooves.
Starswirl just stared at the feather lying on the floor, he raised his sight to meet an exhausted and sweaty Clover.
"Well, that was fast. I see you weren't exaggerating when you said your magic was nothing special.” said Starswirl, he returned the feather to Clover’s desk, “Except that it IS something special, your magic is still weak, but you know the spell perfectly, and your technique was glorious. We just have to work on the strength of your magic. As I said, the only one way to do that is by training. Let me warn you, though, it will not be easy, and it certainly will be painful, but if you don't lose hope on yourself, I won't either. This is your last chance to go back to your comfort life. But if you really want to improve, if you wish to become the best spellcaster you can be, then, turn your back to heaven and follow me to hell."
"I can't give up now, when I haven't even started! I will learn everything I can and become a wonderful spellcaster! No matter how much time it takes me!"
And so began Clover's training. Every single day, she woke before dawn, and as soon as she arrived to Starswirl's Study, her training consisted in only lifting various objects with her magic until sunset.
Day by day, she started by lifting feathers, scrolls and books. She returned home only to eat and sleep, barely feeling her head on her shoulders, and repeat the same routine with a slight increase in difficulty the next morning. Soon, a whole month passed, and she was able to lift Laurel, with no effort at all.
One day, Clover arrived at the desk as always, but her teacher wasn't there as he usually did. She gave no importance, and casting her telekinesis spell, she placed a tall pillar of books on her desk, ‘I guess this equals Laurel's weight, she could lose some pounds, though’, she chuckled and began to lift the whole desk with the books on it as if it was a piece of paper.
Clover was interrupted when the door to the classroom opened, Starswirl arrived accompanied by Laurel and a white young unicorn with shiny silver mane, Clover quickly placed the desk on the floor again when her eyes met with the young unicorn, who she immediately recognized.
"What is this?! I'm not that heavy, am I?" said Laurel with a worried look on her face, "I can't be! I'm a vegetarian!"
"Show some respect, Lever," claimed Starswirl, "You stand before Princess Plutonium herself. She wanted to meet you personally."
"And alone, if you don't mind, please," smirked Platinum. Starswirl and Laurel bowed to the young princess and left the room. Starswirl smiled, very suspiciously, while Laurel closed the door, inspecting her own belly.
"Let’s get one thing straight, princess, I bow for duty, not for respect," Clover bowed in an instant, she turned around and continued her training, "My father used to say that respect is something you got to earn."
Platinum gasped nervously, "Oh, well, you don’t have to if you don’t want to. Honestly... I wasn't exactly expecting this kind of welcome."
"How would you know what to expect? You've spent all this time hiding in your room while the kingdom suffered the loss of a queen, and the 'Little princess' didn't even bother to honor the memory of her mother! You have no excuse! To my eyes, you have done nothing to earn my respect! If I was in your place, I would have spent all this time trying to fill the huge throne that the queen left behind!”
“That’s… well, you don’t understand...”
“Oh I don’t!? I also lost my father that day. You’re not the only one who has suffered! To hear the news that your father is not coming back tears your heart! I know how it feels!"
"Do you really?" replied Platinum shouted, her voice cracked and confronted Clover face to face, "Did you see him die before you? I saw my mother lying on the snow with a huge hole in her body! I heard her words when she spoke to me for the last time! The way she looked at me when she closed her eyes! I felt how the life escaped from my mother's chest as she gave her last breath! Do you really know how any of that feels!?"
Clover stood in shock and dropped the desk she was lifting, while Platinum sighed, calming herself, and continued, "My father believes that respect is something you can take from anyone, that it is something that you have to impose by force. The reason why I'm here is because I want your help, please help me."
"My help? What can I do to help you? I'm just a spellcaster in training."
"Not just any spellcaster, you are Starswirl's student! This may sound crazy but… I need someone powerful on my side… if I want to stop my father one day."
Clover gasped yet again, processing the words she just heard. She frowned indignant and turned her back at the princess, and cast her magic on the desk again to resume her training, "Go away!"