//------------------------------// // Part 1: Chapter: 1 // Story: Arcane Academy: Celestia's New Student // by TheDimensionRift //------------------------------// “Ugh come on! Concentrate, concentrate, concentrate!” The Earth Pony stared at the candle at the edge of his bed, he placed his hooves on his head and struggled to focus his thoughts. All the while, a white haired cyan unicorn stared with a guilty smile. “Are you still trying to make that candle float?” asked the cyan unicorn as she let out a playful laugh. “Come on Silverlight you’ve been at it for hours, don’t you think you should take a break?” “No, I just need to concentrate a little more and…” Silverlight stopped when he noticed a magical aura surround the candle as it began to rise. “No way! I did it! Hey Astral are you seeing this?” Silverlight looked over at his friend and lost his look of accomplishment. He watched as it was her that levitated the candle with a guilty grin. “Like I said, you should really take a break,. You work your flank off everyday, slow your pacing a little and realize your limits.” “Come on Astral, you know I gotta work harder than anypony if I wanna be at the top of the class,” Silverlight got up and took the candle in his muzzle as he gripped it with his teeth and placed it on the night stand next to his friend’s bed. “Yeah, I guess your right,” the cyan unicorn replied as she glanced at a clock which hung in their room and gained the appropriate time of the day. “Come on, we better get to class, don’t want to be late again and have to trot the track,” the unicorn teased as she levitated her and Silverlight’s books into both of their saddle bags and then placed them on their respective owners. The classroom seemed to come to life as unicorns of all shapes, sizes, and colors filled the room and conversed with one another about their daily lives and studies. It wasn’t until Silverlight entered the room that the eyes of everypony fell on him and Astral as they made their way to their seats. “Look, it’s him, that’s the earth pony who wants to learn magic.” “He’s so dumb, doesn’t he know that only unicorns can learn magic? How did he even manage to get into this school anyway?” “I heard he flunked the entrance exam and his parents begged and pleaded for Principal Solar Wind to allow him in.” “Really? Wow, now that’s pathetic,” Seeing the despaired look on her friends face, Astral stood up from her seat and confronted the two unicorns who had been talking out loud. “Hey, you know what’s really pathetic? Two prissy unicorns who can’t seem to mind their own business and pick on other ponies. Maybe if you two put half as much thought into your schoolwork as you do your insults than you’d both be passing” Astral glared at the two females as they scoffed in her direction. “Hmph, whatever,” one of them stated as she threw her hair back. The two unicorns than walked off and took their seats on the other side of the classroom as they stared at Astral who glared back until they sat down. Astral took her seat once the two stopped staring and began to converse with each other once more. “Don’t let those two get you down, you got in here on your own; and if you keep worker hard like you always do, I’m sure you’ll be twice the wizard than either of them will ever hope to be,” hearing the comforting words of his friend, Silverlight shot back a smile in Astral’s direction. “Yeah, your right I’ll be a better magic user than them, better than anypony,” Silverlight declared as he sat straight up from his slump. “I’m gonna graduate from this academy and become a member of the Equestrian Arcane Agency, just wait and see!” “Oh please, listen to yourself.” The earth pony was suddenly face to face with a lavender unicorn with green eyes who glared back at him. “Do you really think YOU of all ponies will graduate? You were lucky enough to even be allowed in the academy,” the unicorn brought his face closer to Silverlight’s, his eyes unblinking and unwavering. “If anypony is going to be a member of the Equestrian Arcane Agency it’s going to be me, not an earth pony like you.” Silver and the unicorn locked their glares upon each other as neither pony dared to move. After a few moments of silent mental warfare, both ponies lost their serious looks as the both broke into laughter. “Don’t think I’ll let you outshine me Silver, I’ll be an agency member before you,” said the lavender pony with a playful grin. “Oh yeah Moongazer? If keeping up with you is all I gotta worry about than I think I’ll be fine.” As Moongazer took his seat next to his friend, a tall, thin and brown unicorn walked into the classroom and set a briefcase on his desk with his horn. “All right students, everypony settle down and find your seats,” said the brown unicorn who stood in the front of the room. “Um, Professor Light, are we going to be doing a review of last semester?” one of the students called out, anonymously hidden among the sea of students. “Ah, but of course. I’m sure you all grasp the concept pretty well, but we’ll be double checking on it to make sure you all have a hoof down on it. So,” Professor Light levitated a piece of chalk as he began to write on the board. “Who can tell me what kind of classes students at the academy fall in to?” All the ponies stared on in silence as no pony said anything. As a hoof shot up in the air, the silence was broken by a certain somepony who was in class to learn. “Ah yes, Miss Astral,” the professor said as he pointed a hoof in unicorn’s direction. “Students fall into classes of 1 through 4 with students taking on various assignments with differing ranks,” replied Astral cheerily with a smirk of satisfaction on her face. “And what are the different ranks of each assignment?” “Assignments are arranged from rank D through S. Rank D being the easiest involving task such as recovering missing items and helping others with daily routines. And rank S being the hardest with tasks such as…” Astral was interrupted by the classroom door bursting open. Standing in the doorway was a gray pony wearing a black saddle bag. His jet black hair covered up one side of his frowning face, exposing only one of his yellow eyes. His cutie mark was a falling black star with a yellow outline and smaller yellow sparkles around it. “S rank tasks are the most difficult assignments one can take on at Arcane Academy. They involve taking on tasks such as dealing with monsters, rigorous magic training, or even,” the unicorn pulled off his saddle bag which he tossed on professor Light’s desk spilling out the contents of several assorted rubies and gems. “Recovering gems from the horde of a dragon, or in my case, dragons.” At the sound of this, several students in the classroom gasped and began to murmur amongst each other. “Ah, mister Midnight Star, how nice of you to grace us with your presence. Unfortunately your late and I’m afraid you’ll have to trot the track after class,” replied professor Light with an annoyed expression. “Now, if you could please find a seat, we were in the middle of a lesson.” “Sorry professor, but I’ve got another assignment to take care of.” “Your assignments are to be done on your own time mister Star, NOT during my instructional time,” professor Light only grew more irritated with Midnight’s attitude. “I’ve been studying magic since I was a foal, I’m sure there’s not a lesson in your brain that I don’t already know professor.” As he turned to leave the room, Midnight Star’s path was blocked by a rather ill tempered earth pony. “Hey! What’s the big idea Midnight!? You never show up to class and when you do, you only stay long enough to remind everypony how much of a jerk you are or turn in assignments, sometimes both. You study the same things we do and you’re even in the same class as the rest of us, yet you act like your better than everypony else,” Silverlight was face to face with the unicorn, a contortion of anger on his face as he awaited a response. “Well, only two things of what you said are correct. Yes, we study the same things; and yes I do think I’m better than everypony in this room; however, you are nowhere close to being on the same level as me. As a matter of fact,” Midnight Star turned back and faced the other students, “No pony in here is close to being on the same level as me, your all 3rd class students or below. The only one who has potential is your girlfriend over there,” Midnight said as he pointed a hoof towards Astral. “She may be a 3rd class student but she demonstrates the qualities of a 2nd if not a 1st. You however, well, you’re an earth pony with no magical training or abilities whatsoever and yet you decided to enroll in a unicorn exclusive magic academy. How you even made it past the entrance exam is beyond me, perhaps principal Solar Wind took pity on your poor excuse of an attempt and permitted you passage.” Silverlight was now practically seething with rage, his face red with anger at the words of the unicorn. Midnight Star turned back to face him as he made his way towards the door once more. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have 7 other assignments I have to complete by the end of the day. 2 of them are S rank, something you know nothing about,” with those words, Midnight Star gave Silverlight a shove as he made his way past him and shut the door on his way out. “Can you believe the nerve of that guy?” Silverlight said as he returned to his seat. “Don’t worry about him, he’s just a stuck up 1st class student who doesn’t have any respect for others,” Astral replied as Silver sat next to her. “If that’ll be all the distractions for the morning, let’s continue the review,” said professor Light as he refocused the students attention to the chalkboard. “Now then, who other than miss Astral can tell me the difference between magical ability and magical potential?” After the bell had rung indicating the end of the class, most students left in groups or lingered around the classroom to converse amongst each other. Silverlight turned to his two best friends as they each packed up their belongings. “So, Moongazer, Astral, what’s on your agenda’s for today?” asked the white haired pony with an eager expression. “I got a B rank assignment that I gotta get done, shouldn’t be nothing too hard for me ya know,” replied Moongazer with a grin. “I’ve got two C’s, a B, and an A that I have to turn in before tomorrow afternoon. And of course I still gotta help you with your assignments,” Astral teased as she finished packing up her bag. “Can’t leave my best friend hanging,” she continued as she gave Silverlight a playful shove. “Yeah I got a couple D rank assignments, gotta start somewhere right?” The three friends laughed at Silver’s mention of this. Though he was laughing on the outside, Silverlight’s thoughts were not on joy, but elsewhere as he remembered back to what Midnight Star had said to him. He was right, no pony was even close to being on the same level as him, no pony except Astral. Since the first day he met him, Silverlight could always tell that Midnight meant business and preferred studying over making friends. He talked a big game, but his bite was just as devastating as his bark, if not deadlier. 17 C’s; 25 B’s; 34 A’s; and 12 S rank assignments and counting. Within a month of enrollment he had already been appointed to the position of 1st class student, yet still, with each passing day the unicorn’s numbers continued to rise. It only discouraged Silverlight even more knowing that after four whole months in the academy, he was still stuck struggling with D rank assignments while his friends continued to surpass him just like Midnight. He was surprised he hadn’t dropped out yet, but it was his determination and persistence which kept him going; that, and a little encouragement from his friends. “Helloooo, Equestria to Silver, are you even listening?” Silverlight snapped back to reality as Astral waved her hoof in front of him, attempting to draw him back from his thoughts. “Oh yeah, assignments, gotta get ‘em done,” Silverlight stuttered as he tried to jump back in the conversation. “Hey, Astral, I appreciate the help and all, but I think I can tackle my assignments on my own.” “Oh…..okay, are you sure Silver? I don’t mind helping you out, actually I like being around you,” Astral replied blushing slightly as he spoke. “Nah, it’s okay, you got your own assignments to take care of. Speaking of which, I better get a head start on mine. Catch you guys later!” Silverlight called out to his friends as he took of in a quick gallop out of the classroom. “Huh, that’s funny, he seemed a bit odd today,” said Astral as she watched her friend leave. “Don’t you think so too Moongazer?.....Moongazer?” Astral looked around as she was left standing alone in the classroom. She noticed a note on her friend’s desk and decided to read it out loud. "Dear Astral, sorry to ditch you, but I can’t let Silverlight get ahead of me on my assignments. You should get started too before me and Silver outshine you. Best of luck to you, Moongazer.” Astral was a bit astonished as she read the letter, however, her astonishment was soon replaced by a look of annoyance. She crumbled up the letter and threw it in the trash as she walked out the door muttering to herself. “Ugh, boys.” “You want an S rank assignment? Are you out of your mind?” “Please professor Light, I won’t be able to test my abilities to the fullest unless I challenge myself.” The brown unicorn placed a hoof under his chin as he pondered the young pony’s request. Silver’s grades were mediocre at best, but he was determined to prove something to his fellow classmates; that being said, without proper caution, the earth pony’s tenacity could get him hurt or even worse. “Silverlight, you know I have faith in you as I do all my students,” professor Light placed a hoof on Silver’s head and brushed his hair as he tried to explain to his student. “But I just don’t think your ready to take on such a difficult task. The only experience you have are 20 D ranks and a few C’s, tackling an S rank is a really big leap up for somepony like you.” “I got it, I got it, I’ll be extra careful. As a matter of fact, Astral is going with me, come on teach, just give me a chance.” Seeing the eyes of the student, the elder unicorn gave in to Silverlight’s request. “Oh fine, if Astral’s going with you at least there is a lower chance of you getting yourself hurt,” exhaled the professor through a defeated sigh. “I’m sure this is about what Midnight said to you earlier, you know, you really shouldn’t take what he says to heart. Alright, I’ll give you the same assignment he had.” “Thanks professor, I’ll be safe, I mean, me and Astral, I promise!” Silverlight called back to the teacher as he took off in a dash. “If you don’t think you can complete it you can always return to the academy, I promise I won’t fail you!” shouted the professor as he watched the earth pony gallop away. ‘Astral, Silverlight, please be careful,’ he thought to himself as he returned to grading the assignment’s on his desk. Silverlight read through the details of his assignment written on the scroll his teacher had provided for him. “Retrieve stolen gemstones from Argon the Dragon’s den. Dragons sleep during this time of the year, no wonder Midnight completed this assignment so easily, this’ll be a piece of cake. Lets see, should the dragon happen to wake please take the necessary measures as stated in….blah, blah, blah, I got it from here.” Silverlight rolled up the scroll using his nose, grabbed it with his mouth, and returned the scroll to his saddle bag on his back. As he continued on his way through the court yard, Silverlight noticed a certain gray, dark haired pony walking in his direction. “Hey Midnight, guess where I’m off to.” “What makes you think I care? You loser,” replied Midnight as he continued past the white haired pony. “For your information,” Silverlight continued as he turned around to catch up with the unicorn. “I’m on my way to retrieve the gemstones that Argon the Dragon has stolen, an S rank assignment,” Silverlight said with a huge grin on his face. “Pretty cool, huh?” “You’re even more of fool than I thought if you think Argon is just going to hand his gemstones over to you. If I were you, I’d return that assignment and choose something that better fits your skill set, something…...easier,” replied Midnight Star as he continued on his way. “I’ll show you,” said Silverlight as he turned to face the large mountainside that surrounded the school, awaiting for him at the top was the den of Argon. “I’ll show you and everypony, I’ll complete this assignment and get promoted to a 1st class student, than everypony at the academy will stop looking down on me and give me the respect I deserve.” Having said that, the pony charged toward the mountain, bracing himself for the challenge that was to come. “Too bad I won’t be there to see you screw this up personally Silverlight,” as he spoke to himself, a rather evil smile began to form on Midnight’s face. “That gives me an idea.” Astral walked along the hallway of dorm rooms with her saddle bag thrown over her back. She had completed all of her designated assignments and wanted to check up on her friend. “Silver, I finished up my assignments for the day, I’m free to help you now if you want,” Astral called out as she entered the room. She looked around at the empty room as she was met with silence. “Silver? Huh, guess he’s still off doing his assignments. I didn’t think a few D rank tasks would take him this long,” “Astral!?” The cyan unicorn turned around to be faced with the worried expression of her teacher, visibly sweating as his face was devoid of color entirely. “What are you doing here!? Why aren’t you with Silverlight!?” Astral was confused as she listened to the words of her professor with a confused expression. “With Silver? Sweet Celestia, what has that dummy gotten himself into this time?” Silverlight approached a large opening in at the peak of the mountainside he had climbed. Seeing that Celestia’s Sun was beginning to set, the earth pony knew he had to enter the cave now if he wanted to finish his assignment on time. “So, Argon is in there huh? Alright then, here I come!” As he charged headfirst into the cave, Silverlight began to notice the light from outside the cave quickly begin to fade. While running through the tunnel, Silverlight saw a strange light at end which shined with glimmer and bright vivid colors. The cave’s tunnel exited into an opening, all around different assorted gems and rubies shone in the faint rays of the sun through a giant opening above, casting a beautiful array of light from its reflection. “Whoa, this is amazing, look at all these gems. There must be at least thousands of different gemstones here,” Silverlight’s awestruck expression quickly changed into a serious one. “Right, no time to admire the scenery, I just gotta get a few of the gemstones into my saddle bag and I’ll be on my way. Funny, this is a dragon’s den after all, than where in the world of Equestria is the—” Silverlight was interrupted by a loud roar which reverberated throughout the cave and shook the very earth beneath his hooves and the heavens over his head. “Dragon!?” The pony turned around and was face to face with a large black dragon with glowing purple eyes and dark smoke emitting from his nostrils. The dragon was glaring angrily at the small creature and clearly wasn’t fond of visitors. “Who dares steal from the Black Dragon Tenebris!?” “Tenebris!? I thought this was the cave of Argon, the Gem Thief Dragon?” exclaimed Silverlight as he took a step back from the approaching behemoth. “You insolent creature!” the dragon boomed furiously, “You break into my domain; call me a thief; and even attempt to steal my jewels!? You shall not leave here unscathed!” With a furious roar, the dragon shot a fireball in the direction of the earth pony. The pony was able to dodge it by rolling out of the way, but as he attempted to recover from the first fireball a second hit him directly and sent him flying across the cave. Silverlight landed in a pile of gems with a rather hard thud, he let out a cry of pain as he attempted to move. ‘My body’s gone numb, darn it, I can’t move.’ “Fool, maybe if you had been a unicorn with some magic, you might have actually gotten away. But instead you’re a useless earth pony with no magic experience whatsoever, coming here was your greatest mistake.” Tenebris only drew nearer to the pony as he said this, nostrils flaring and his massive jaw locked into a carnivorous smile. ‘He’s right,’ Silverlight thought as doubt began to creepy into the back of the earth pony’s mind. ‘I’m a useless earth pony with no magic whatsoever, what was I even thinking of enrolling in this academy? A pony like me will never be an agency member, I’ll be lucky if I even graduate. Oh, that’s right, I won’t do any of those things, because I won’t make it out of here; I won’t become an agency member; and I won’t see my friends again. This is where my story ends, the story of greatest wizard in Equestria…..or at least, what would have been,’ The earth pony closed his eyes and indulged himself in his final thoughts as he felt the warm of the dragon’s fire draw evermore nearer. “Silver!” Silverlight’s eyes shot open at the scream of a familiar voice. He saw a small cyan colored unicorn running towards his direction in the distance, it was his best friend Astral. “You dummy! What were you thinking taking on an S rank assignment all by yourself!?” Astral screamed as she ran underneath the dragon’s massive structure, anger and concern did battle within her tone of voice trying to decide which would lead. “What’s this? Another equine dares to enter my domain!? All you ponies are the same, you never learn!” Tenebris let out a breath of flames in Astral’s direction, however, his blaze failed to find it’s target who had teleported out of the way with her magic. While Tenebris was lost in the confusion, Astral was able to make her way to Silverlight’s location. “Hold on, I’m gonna get you out of here,” said the cyan unicorn as she attempted to levitate her friend who still failed to move on his own. Just then, the unicorn’s tail was pulled by a large claw as she was thrown across the cave clearing. Silverlight quickly scrambled to his hooves as he witnessed his friend getting tossed aside like a rag doll. “You ponies sure are a pesky bunch, you’ll go first, then the white haired one,” said Tenebris with an evil smile as he slowly slithered to Astral who lay limp where she landed. ‘Even though I’m able to stand I still can’t move,’ as Silver thought to himself, he glanced over at his friend who lay unconscious. ‘Astral, since I first enrolled at Arcane Academy, you have always stood up for me. Whenever I was bullied; whenever I failed; whenever I made a complete fool of myself; even now your willing to put yourself in harm’s way just to stand up for me. I guess I really am a useless earth pony……..no, I don’t want to be useless anymore! I enrolled in this school to learn how to defend myself with and against magic. I want to be the protector, not the one being protected. That’s why I joined this academy; that’s why I wanna graduate and become a member of the Equestrian Arcane Agency that’s why I wanna be the greatest wizard in Equestria.’ Silverlight abandoned his thoughts and rejoined the fray of reality. “To protect everypony I care about!” In a mighty roar, the once lifeless body of the earth pony took off in a blinding dash, heading straight for Astral. His speed far surpassed the dragon’s bulky figure and he was able to grab his friend and toss her on to his back as he made his way toward the cave entrance through the endless tunnel he had entered. “No way I’ll let you escape!” roared the dragon as he inhaled, preparing for one final breath of flames. Spewing a great fireball almost the size of the dragon himself, Tenebris let out a mighty victory laugh. “Come on, just a little more, just a little bit further. Concentrate, concentrate, concentrate!” the white haired pony said to himself as he felt the heat of the flames catching up to him. “It’s no use, at this rate I won’t reach the entrance in time.” As Silverlight closed his eyes and prepared for the inevitable, he felt a strange tingling sensation overcome his body. When he opened his eyes he saw that he and Astral were both outside of the cave and the entrance was collapsing underneath falling rocks. Silverlight gave out a sigh of exhaustion, it wasn’t until a familiar voice chimed in that the earth pony even remembered he was carrying another. “You…..dummy,” Astral spoke threw tired breaths as she regained consciousness. “The next time you do plan on doing something this stupid, give me a heads up will you?” Astral said as she laughed softly and nuzzled into her friends neck. “Will do, though, I don’t see myself tackling anymore S rank assignments anytime soon. Besides, I lost my saddle bag that I carried the gems in back there so I’m pretty sure I failed.” “Are you sure about that?” asked Astral as she hopped off her friends back and threw a hoof around his neck to support herself. When she managed to stand, Silverlight noticed that his friend had a blue saddle bag on her back; his saddle bag. “Hehe, have I ever told you how awesome you are Astral?” Silverlight asked with a smile as he began to walk with his friend down the mountain and toward the direction of the school. “I don’t think you tell me enough,” replied the unicorn with a laugh as she clung to her friend’s side. “Anyway, just shut up and get us to the medical wing already. The sun’s almost down and I don’t want to trot the track for being caught outside our dorm rooms after hours.”