//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6 
// Story: Academy 
// by Terrasora 
//------------------------------//

Twilight Sparkle spent the first day of classes flipping through the rather hefty catalogue of courses offered by the Princess' Academy for the Advancement of Equestrian Society. Given the Academy's goal of honing the special talents of its students, it was no surprise that the offered lessons spanned a wide range of subjects. If Twilight wished, though she'd never imagine wishing for it, she could attend an Introduction to Acting class, then immediately hightail it across campus and arrive just in time for a course on Solid-State Chemistry, a subject more relevant to her interests. However, that subject conflicted with the equally interesting-sounding Ritual Magic lesson.

Of course, Princess Celestia had already gone over ritual magic and Twilight had read a few choice books on the topic, but a refresher course couldn't hurt. Twilight dipped her quill into an inkwell, adding "Ritual Magic" to a list of about twenty other lessons. Most students at the Academy only took four or five classes during any given semester, but Twilight was discounting that at the moment. By the time Twilight had gone through the entire catalogue her list had over seventy entries, she'd broken a quill, and she was absolutely famished.

Twilight stowed away her list and writing materials, pushing away from her desk. She stretched lightly, her neck and back sore from poring over the catalogue for so long. It was, however, a very productive day and the soreness came with a certain sense of accomplishment.

There was a knock at Twilight's door, quickly followed by Rarity's voice. "Twilight, are you in, darling?"

Twilight crossed her room, opening the door and finding Rarity accompanied by Pinkie Pie.

"We're heading down for dinner," Rarity said, "would you care to join us?"


***


Twilight silently thanked Past Twilight for skipping lunch. Rarity and Pinkie Pie passed most of dinner discussing their respective classes, comparing professors and bemoaning the way classes were spread throughout the Academy. Twilight was able to excuse herself from the discussion by constantly shoveling food into her mouth and occasionally leaving the table to gather more food. This inevitably led to Twilight eating far more for dinner than was strictly necessary, but she was able to avoid the brunt of that particular conversation.

"Twilight," Rarity asked towards the end of dinner, "we were looking for you at the Carnival last night, but we couldn't find you anywhere!"

"I walked around for a little bit when I finished speaking with Professor Pen, but I was pretty tired by then."

"What were you and Professor Pen talking about, Twilight?" Pinkie Pie asked between bites of her third slice of pie.

"Oh, you know..." Twilight waved her hoof dismissively, trying to buy time. Lies were so much easier when Princess Celestia told her what to say. "Just... magic, mostly. I, uh, I met Sunset Shimmer."

Rarity's eyes shone brightly. "Really? How? When?"

"She came to bring something to Professor Pen. Sunset came in just as I was leaving."

"What did you two talk about?"

"We didn't really talk. I was already leaving."

"Oh." Rarity seemed slightly disappointed by this. "Well, it's something, I suppose. You know, if Princess Celestia's rumored student wasn't a first-year, I would place good money on Sunset Shimmer being that student."

Pinkie Pie polished off her dessert, then used her fork to get the last few bits of pie filling stuck to the plate. "I heard that there's a few ponies saying that they're the Princess' student."

"Really?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah, but nopony believes them. I mean, if they were gonna reveal themselves on the first day of classes, what's the point of being a super-secret super-student?"

"My thoughts exactly, Pinkie Pie," Rarity said enthusiastically. "Which means that the student is still hiding somewhere."

"It might just be a rumor," Twilight said, not quite liking the gleam in Rarity's eyes. "There's no real proof that the Princess sent her student here."

"Well, no," Rarity admitted, "but then how do you explain Princess Celestia's last-minute admittance of a pony?"

Twilight shrugged. "An application mistake?"

"I thought about that, but application mistakes would be handled by the admissions department, not by the Princess herself."

"She's got you there, Twi," Pinkie Pie added. "Do you think asking for another slice of pie is too much?"

"Not at all, dear," said Rarity. "Aren't you interested in this, Twilight? A student hidden from the rest of Equestria for Celestia knows how many years suddenly being thrust into the Academy! There has to be a reason behind it, don't you think?"

If there is a reason, then I haven't figured it out. "You said the same thing at Ponyville Station."

"Yes, well, the reasoning still stands."

"I got another slice of pie," Pinkie said happily, returning to the table though neither Twilight nor Rarity could remember her leaving.

"And," Rarity continued, "I'm not the only pony who feels this way."

Twilight knit her brow. "What do you mean?"

"Well, we, by which I mean the ponies in Professor Pen's seminar, spoke about the student during our final foray into the Carnival."

"And?"

"We're going on a treasure hunt!" Pinkie Pie answered around a mouthful of key lime pie.

"What she means is that Rainbow Dash suggested that we all go searching for the mystery student and everypony present agreed."

Twilight nodded. "Good luck with that."

"Oh come now Twilight! Surely, you can't be entirely disinterested in this!"

"I'm busy enough with classes, I don't need anything distracting me." That was a good one. I'll file that excuse away for later.

"Applejack said that Professor Pen might help us. Apparently, he enjoys activities like this."

Somehow, Twilight wasn't surprised by this new information. It was, however, a step in the right direction; Pen Umbra had warned Twilight against revealing her position as Celestia's student, he wouldn't easily divulge that information. Best possible scenario, he'd talk the other five out of their search.

"What are you thinking, Twilight?" Pinkie asked.

"I don't know..."

Rarity saw her chance and leapt on it. "It's just a bit of fun, Twilight. We're not really expecting to find the Princess' student, though that would be an added bonus. Applejack is treating it as a chance to show us around campus."

"Rainbow Dash isn't!" Pinkie added.

"Well, no, but that's besides the point."

"Why is that besides the point?"

"Because it's Rainbow Dash, dear."

Twilight bit the inside of her lower lip, thinking quietly. The chances of them working out that Twilight was Celestia's student were already low; Celestia had doubtlessly put forth precautions against that. Those chances were lowered further if Pen Umbra was involved. And... and what? Hadn't Twilight been told to make friends? Was this a chance to make friends? Did ponies normally make friends by heading out on ill-conceived adventures? All of Twilight's fantasy books would have said yes.

Twilight nodded. "Okay. I'll help."

"Yay!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, bounding out of her seat. "This calls for another slice of pie!" She hopped away in search of said pie.

"So how is this working?" Twilight asked.

"Well, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Fluttershy are supposed to meet us in about, oh, two minutes."

Twilight's eyes widened. "Two minutes? We can't even get to Heart in two minutes!"

"Heart?" Rarity asked. "No dear, they're meeting us here in Star. What better place to look for a first-year than in the first-year dorm?"

"Oh. That makes sense."

"Thank you. I spent about ten minutes talking Rainbow Dash out of her original plan, but I think it was well worth it."

"We're still doing that," came Rainbow Dash's voice. The pegasus herself shortly trotted up to the table, closely followed by Applejack and Fluttershy. "If we don't find the student in three days, we're going with my plan."

"We're giving it a week, Rainbow," Applejack said. "Evenin' Twilight, Rarity. Pinkie Pie ain't with you two?"

"I'm here," Pinkie said sadly, her mane slightly less poofy than normal. "They're out of pie."

"I'm sorry about that, sugarcube."

Pinkie Pie hung her head.

Dash rolled her eyes. "Who cares about pie? We're going hunting! Who's room is closest?" She glanced between the three first-years.

Pinkie looked up. "Mine?"

"Perfect! Lead the way, Pinkie."

Pinkie broke out into a grin, her mane poofing up instantly. "Hurray, room party! Let's go!" She hopped her way out of the dining hall, leaving the other five to follow behind her.


***


Pinkie Pie's room was, in a word, colorful. Streamers hung from the ceiling, seemingly without any kind of outward support; balloons flew from every surface a string could be tied around; multi-colored confetti was strewn across the floor, and framed pictures seemed to cover every inch of the wall.

Pinkie led the way into her room, bouncing cheerfully forward. "Sit down wherever you want! Sorry that it's such a mess; I haven't had time to set everything up yet."

"I'm not sure how much more you'll be able to fit in here, dear," Rarity noted, lightly batting aside a balloon to make her point.

Rainbow Dash glided over to the bed, making herself comfortable without a moment's hesitation. "She just needs a bigger room."

Rarity sighed. "If it were only that easy."

Twilight was thoughtful for a moment, but before she was able to say anything Dash let out a low chuckle. "Here, let Professor Dash teach you something."

Rainbow Dash got off of Pinkie's bed and strutted her way to the far wall. She inspected it for a moment with her hoof on her chin and many "hmmms" and "hahs". Then, with an exaggerated "Ah-Ha!" she placed a hoof on one of the few empty patches of plaster and pushed the entire wall forward. Dash extended the room by a good four or five feet before coming a stop. "There," she said, panting slightly, "now we're comfortable."

Rarity blinked in surprise. "How did you... Is that possible?"

"You kidding?" Dash replied. "Changing a size of a room's like the easiest thing ever! You should see my room back in Heart; I turned everything into cloud. Only took me a week too!"

Applejack chuckled quietly. "I remember that week. How's your wing healing up?"

"Yeah, whatever," Dash said, snapping a wing towards AJ. "You fall through one wall and you never hear the end of it."

"Could I turn my room into cotton candy?!" Pinkie asked excitedly.

"Sorry Pinkie," Applejack said. "Star's pretty strict on room transformations, with it being a first-year dorm and all. I mean, it's possible, but it'd take a lot more magic than it would in the other dorms."

"How does that work?" Pinkie asked.

"There are limiters weaved into Star's magic," Twilight explained automatically. "Anypony who attempted a transformation beyond their ability would lose their grip on Star's magic and take a bit of backlash. Nothing too serious; at worst, they'd be unconscious for a few minutes and wake up with a bit of a headache. Enough to teach them..." At this point, Twilight realized that every eye in the room was currently fixed on her "... their... limits," she finished with a mutter.

"Huh," Rainbow Dash said after a pause. "That's pretty much how Professor Pen explained it."

Applejack nodded. "That just about covers it. As you get on in the years here at the Academy, the limiters weaken and you can do more with your room. By the time you get to Sun, there are promoters instead of limiters so you can do things you wouldn't be able to do anywhere else."

"And then there's Moon," Dash said. She and Applejack shared a knowing look.

"What's special about Moon?" Rarity asked.

"See," Rainbow Dash began, "there's kind of a system to the dorms. Star's supposed to teach you your limits the way egghead over there," she nodded at Twilight, "explained. Heart's trying to get you to reach out a bit. It builds up your confidence because now you can actually do things, you know? And then you get to Moon. Moon tries to push you past your limits, force you to use everything you've learned every day that you live there."

Applejack took up the thread. "Moon moves on its own. You open up a door that lead to a bathroom five minutes ago and it's a broom closet. Open it again and you're looking at the main lobby."

"I know a colt who fell asleep in his bed and woke up on the Sea," Rainbow Dash said.

"I heard that you can fall asleep in your bed and wake up in the Everfree," Applejack added.

Fluttershy let out a squeak; the first noise she'd made since entering Pinkie's room.

"It's just a rumor, Fluttershy," AJ said comfortingly. "There's no way we'd just randomly end up in the Everfree like that. Point is, everypony in Moon has to constantly use their magic. It's a good learning experience."

"I thought Sun was the most difficult dorm to navigate," Twilight said.

Dash shook her head. "Nah. I mean, yeah it's confusing, but it's not changing every second; you can kinda figure it out. It's gotta bring out its rescue team more than Moon, but that's because the desk worker at the front of Sun doesn't make visitors fill out liability forms."


***


Twilight was exhausted. She'd spent a good four or five hours in Pinkie's room, chatting with the other five members of Professor Pen's seminar. Rainbow Dash had insisted on going through every room in Star dorm and interrogating the most suspicious first-years on the spot. They'd spent half an hour convincing Dash that this was an invasion of privacy and another forty five minutes convincing her that invading privacy was a bad thing, even when the ponies in question had "nothing to hide". At this point, Pinkie had produced a batch of cupcakes seemingly without any kind of preparation and declared a snack break. This pattern continued until Applejack had declared it time for the second-years to head back to Heart. Twilight, carrying a basket of pastries forced on her by Pinkie Pie, had trudged back to her dorm room, set the basket on her desk, and collapsed face-first onto her bed.

At the end of the day, the only thing the six mares had come to a consensus on was that the search for Princess Celestia's student would be called "The Mystery Student Hunt" and that asking Professor Pen Umbra for help under the guise of a team-building exercise was probably a good idea. Overall, the meeting could have gone far worse for Twilight Sparkle, but that degree of forced socialization had taken a toll on her.

Pinkie was a force to be reckoned with, high-pitched and excitable and providing a never-ending stream of sugary treats that made Twilight's head hurt. Applejack and Rainbow Dash bickered endlessly, not to mention the fact that this whole Mystery Student Hunt business was their idea. Fluttershy was too unwilling to share her thoughts and too quiet when Rainbow Dash forced her to speak. Rarity was too caught up in the romance of it all to provide meaningful help. They were loud, bothersome, and had deprived Twilight of precious hours of her sleep. She was tired in a way she'd never been before.

For the first time since she'd left Canterlot, Twilight Sparkle fell asleep with a smile on her face.