“This is so lame,”
“Stop complaining Silver,”
The earth pony sat at his desk with both of his hooves under his chin with a frown in place of his usual smiling face.
“I wanted to find out who won! I wanted to take the final trial already but princess Celestia had to return to Canterlot for ’royal business’ and now we have to wait,”
“Don’t be such a baby you know she’s a princess and she has things to attend to besides watching us!” Astral snapped as she hit the pony on his head with a hoof. “You should be grateful she’s even giving us an opportunity to be her student you idiot, she said she’ll be back in three days so instead of complaining you should take this time to prepare for the final trial!”
“Yeah I guess your right,” Silverlight rubbed his head as his injury from Astral began to swell up quickly. “But I’m still concerned about what Midnight said,”
The two ponies turned their heads toward the dark haired unicorn who sat in his high corner seat of the classroom with his nose buried in a book.
“Yeah, there’s no doubt in my mind that he has something fishy planned for it. I’m not too sure yet but we should be careful during the final trial,”
Every student turned their heads toward the front of the classroom as their usual teacher entered the room. He took a seat in his usual desk and smiled back to his students with his dark brown eyes.
“I hope you all njoyed your weekend, before I continue on I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge several of the students in our very class which have participated in the Arcane Trials,” professor Light picked up a piece of chalk and wrote down several names on the board. “Midnight Star; Silverlight; Astral; Mint Chip; Cherry Berry; and Moongazer. All of these students have participated in the trials and have completed both the first and second of the three exams. Let’s all have a round of applause for these six and their outstanding performances,”
The sound of stomping hooves quickly filled the room as cheers of applause exploded from the other students in the classroom. Though he was annoyed at first, Astral could see Silver’s expression quickly change to a smiling face as he heard the cheers of appreciation from the other students.
“Okay, okay, settle down everypony, settle down,” the students listened to their professor respectively and did as he had instructed, the classroom once again fell silent. “Now that we have that announcement out of the way, I have another I’d like to make. I’m happy to say that our class is going to be accepting another student into our ranks,” as the professor said this, the classroom door slowly creaked open and a pony entered drawing the attention of everypony present. She was a light beige unicorn with cream white hair which slightly resembled Silverlight’s and her cutie mark appeared to be that of a puppet controller with strings hanging down from the cross like object. Her expression seemed rather blank and the head of what looked like a creepy wooden doll was sticking out of her pink saddle bag. “This is miss Mary Anette, she just recently enrolled in Arcane Academy just the other day. I know you’ll all do your best to make her feel welcomed amongst us,” professor Light then turned his gaze toward the unicorn and smiled warmly. “Please have a seat wherever you’d like miss Anette,”
Mary nodded weakly as the professor said this and then slowly made her way to the back of the classroom and took a seat where no students were seated.
’Talk about a gloomy pony, she doesn’t even look remotely happy, and she decided to sit away from everypony else. What’s her deal?’ Silverlight glanced back at where the unicorn was sitting only to see her playing with something. A wooden doll which seemed to be in the figure of a pony, it took him a few glances before he realized what she was playing with was no ordinary doll, but a puppet. “Okay, now that’s creepy,” he whispered to Astral as he pointed a hoof in Mary’s direction.
“So what? She likes puppets, what’s so creepy about that?” Astral replied in a whisper with annoyance in her voice. “I used to be into dolls too when I was a filly,”
“When you were a filly!” Silverlight replied trying to keep his whisper down to a minimum. “She seems about the same age as us and she still has hers,”
“Well, you saw her cutie mark,” Astral said quietly as she glanced back at the unicorn who continued to play by herself silently. “Maybe she’s really good with puppets, that’s probably her special talent,”
“Miss Astral! Mister Silver!” the professor snapped as he looked at the two ponies. “Perhaps you’d like to share what it is your talking about with the rest of the class?”
“S-sorry about that teach,” Silverlight said with a nervous smile. “We’ll be quiet now,”
“Yeah,” Astral agreed with a fake smile of her own.
“I should hope so,” the brown unicorn cleared his throat before continuing with his lesson. “Now, let’s continue on about how best to treat a case of Poison joke,”
Several students exited the classroom as soon as the bell rang in a fit of murmurs and chatter. Silverlight and Astral both looked over at Mary who was still playing with her puppet instead of preparing to leave.
“Soooo, still think she’s not creepy?” he asked Astral as they made their way to the front of the classroom.
“She’s just…..different,” Astral said as she laughed nervously to Silverlight. “Anyways, me and Cherry are going to the school spa after class, what about you?”
“Probably get in some training before the final trial, I’ll have to hit up Chip and see if he wants to help me,” Silverlight replied with a determined grin. “I gotta be ready for anything,”
“Mister Silver, I’d like a word,” professor Light said as he stopped the earth pony at the door.
“Guess not,” the pony snorted in annoyance. “I’ll catch up with you later Astral,”
“Alright, see you later Silver, and try to stay out of trouble,” Astral disappeared out of the classroom as she said this.
Silverlight slowly walked to the teachers desk slowly as he let out a sigh, preparing himself for whatever was to come.
“Your not in trouble Silver so lose the worried look,” professor Light laughed. “I simply need you to show miss Anette here around,” he said as he pointed a hoof to the unicorn who was now standing next to Silverlight. He jumped back, startled as to how she appeared to materialize out of nowhere; she was still playing with her puppet as she levitated it with her magic. “She’s not familiar with the campus and I figured you could show her around,”
“Seriously!? I gotta focus on my trraining and I only have two more days before the princess gets back I don't have time to be a tour guide!" Silverlight could see the look on his teacher's face meant he wasn't getting out of this one. "Oh fine, come on Mary"
“Before you go,” the professor said as he handed Mary a stack of several papers before she left. “Here are the assignments you requested miss Anette, are you sure your ready to tackle these tasks, perhaps you’d like something….easier?” the unicorn shook her head as she placed the papers in her saddle bag and continued out the door following the earth pony.
Silverlight and Mary walked down several doors before heading downstairs and entered a set of large double doors.
“So, where do you wanna start first?” he asked. Mary only continued to stare at her wooden doll in silence. ’Man, this girl is weird; she hasn’t said a word since she’s been here and the way she stares at that doll is beginning to creep me out,’ he let out a sigh as he continued to walk in silence with the unicorn. ’Easy Silver, just because she seems weird doesn’t mean she is weird; maybe if I just keep trying to talk to her than she’ll open up to me,’ he thought as they continued their walk in never-ending silence. “So, what brings you to Arcane Academy?” the white haired pony’s question was met with silence; but he didn’t give up and he continued his questioning. “Where you from? Baltimare?; Las Pegasus?; Fillydelphia?; Manhattan?”
Still silence, Silverlight was beginning to get annoyed with the responses that he wasn’t getting. He kept up with his barrage of questions, he was determined to get at least one word our of the pony.
“You got any hobbies? Any friends? Anything you do or don’t like? Any family that live close by?”
The unicorn stopped after Silverlight’s last question, he stared at her puzzled as she continued to stare blankly at her doll.
“Puppets,” Mary mumbled under her breath. She then turned her gaze to Silverlight who still looked confused.
“Excuse me?”
“You asked me if I had any friends; any hobbies or any likes; I like puppets,” Mary now turned her gaze to her puppet once more. “My father, he was a carpenter, he made me this puppet and a few others,” she returned her magenta eyes back to the white pony. “Would you like to see them?”
Silverlight was hesitant to respond at first, but he thought he saw a bit of hope in the unicorn’s, like she desperately wanted to show him her dolls. He finally let out a sigh as he gave in to Mary’s request.
“Sure, lead the wa-” Silverlight was interrupted as the unicorn began pushing him towards the door they had entered. He was stopped shortly after running into a very familiar face.
“I suppose your showing the new student around?” Midnight Star said as he circled around the two ponies like a hungry vulture. “You don’t seem that skilled, in fact, you seem rather fragile, delicate, like you would crumble at even the slightest touch,” he said as he stared at Mary.
“Mary, this is Midnight Star,” Silverlight began as he pointed a hoof at Midnight. “He’s a 1st Class Student with pride that exceeds even his own skills,” he laughed as he watched the dark haired unicorn don his look of annoyance.
“Shut up, you’re a 3rd Class who can’t handle anything above C rank; speaking of which, since you’re a new student Mary, you start at the bottom of barrel like this reject,” Midnight now pointed a hoof at Silverlight. “You don’t seem like you’ll make it to my level, but maybe you won’t be as big a loser as this reject,” Midnight laughed as he continued down the hall.
“Don’t mind him, he may seem like a jerk but deep down he’s just a big mama’s boy,” the earth pony laughed as he and Mary continued down the hall. “So, where were you taking me again?”
Silverlight stood frozen with a frightened expression on his face as he looked around the room he was standing in. Hanging from the ceiling and on the walls were what appeared to be hundreds upon hundreds of different multicolored pony shaped marionettes; some of unicorns and earth ponies, others of alicorns and pegasi.
“This is my collection, my father made every marionette in this room,” Mary used her magic to retrieve one of the puppets hanging from the ceiling and placed the one she was playing with on a shelf nearby. “Every puppet here means something special to me,” she continued as she nuzzled with a wooden pony with a half-hearted smile. “I’ve made several of my own puppets but they never seem to come out as good as father’s,”
’Astral was totally wrong! This. Pony. Is. Weird!’ the earth pony thought to himself as Mary continued to tell him more about her collection. “Oh hey, Mary?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t you think we should continue with your tour?” Silverlight asked with a nervous smile. Mary stared blankly straight ahead before putting away her puppet and unloading her saddle bag on her bed.
“I’m afraid well have to postpone that,” the unicorn began as she gently pushed Silverlight out of the room. “I’m sorry but I really must prepare for my assignments.; but don’t worry Silverlight, I promise that we will see each other again,”
As the unicorn’s door slowly shut, Silver could have sworn that Mary winked at him before closing her door. A chill was sent down his spine as the thought crossed his mind and he began to shudder; something about the unicorn’s words assured him that they indeed would meet again.
“Something about her really makes me uneasy,” Silverlight said to himself as he walked away from the door. “Whatever, now that I got free time, I gotta get started on my training. I should probably stop by the library first though, I need to look more into……..that”
“Now this is a training session I could get used to,” Astral said with a sigh of relief. Her and Cherry were both sitting in the bubbling warm hot tub that that the school spa provided.
“Shouldn’t we actually be training?” Cherry asked as her face also held a relaxed expression. “The final trial is in two more days, what if we’re unprepared?”
“What’s there to be prepared for?” Astral laughed as she splashed her friend with some water. “Knowing princess Celestia, she may throw a curve ball our way; but in the end, we’ll just have to give it out all,”
“Yeah, I guess your right,” Cherry laughed as she splashed Astral back. “So, what do you think of that new girl?”
“Mary? Well, Silver called her weird but I don’t think she is,” Astral placed a hoof under her chin and thought to herself for a moment. “Then again, I don’t really know her yet so I guess I can’t say much,”
“Speaking of, where is Silver?” the pink unicorn asked as she ducked her head in and out of the water.
“Knowing him, he’s either getting himself in trouble, off doing training, or both,” Astral laughed as she weaved her own head in and out of the water
“Pegasi utilize magic of flight and speed; unicorns magic of the mind; earth ponies magic of the body; each race of ponies has magical abilities, some of which are only revealed to them when certain conditions are met,” Silverlight lowered the book and scratched his head in confusion. “When certain conditions are met? What the hay is that supposed to mean? Why don’t these old books ever give specific information?”
Silverlight closed the book and placed it on a stack of other books he had laying on the table he was at. He gave out a sigh and lowered his head slowly to the desk with a yawn. It wasn’t until a cold voice crept up behind him that he jumped out of his chair in fright.
“Hello Silverlight,”
The earth pony jumped back frightened at the unicorn who had caught him off guard, his sudden reaction caused him to fall out of his chair and to the ground with a thud. After picking himself back up, Silverlight himself shiver again as he recognized the unicorn who stood before him.
“Oh, Mary, hey wassup? I thought you had some assignments to do?” Silver asked as he sat back down in his chair and stared at the unicorn who sat across from him. He noticed that she still carried with her a puppet, however, this one was different than the one she had before. But it didn’t surprise Silver whatsoever, after all, he had seen her collection.
“I already got them all done, all seven of them,”
“Really, it’s only been an hour since I seen you last?” Silverlight asked with a nervous smile. “Must have been some pretty easy D ranks huh?”
“No, in fact, they weren’t D ranks at all,”
Silverlight noticed that another unicorn was approaching him and Mary, another familiar face which he was glad to see.
“Hey Chip, what are you doing here?” Silverlight asked
“I was actually looking for you, I wanted to see if you wanted to train with me for the final trial?”
“Would I!?” the earth pony exclaimed with excitement. He then looked over at Mary who stared at him blankly with her puppet in front of her. “Hey, Mary, we’ll uh, catch up later okay?” Silverlight quickly hopped out of his chair and quickly made his way toward the exit of the library with Chip. “Thank Celestia for you Chip, that pony is a freak,” he whispered to his friend.
Mary hopped out of her own seat and watched Silverlight and Chip walk away briskly, her blank eyes watching the earth pony’s movements carefully, as if analyzing him. She brought her wooden unicorn puppet close to her and spoke as if to the puppet.
“I’m not too sure yet Sir Trottsalot, he thinks I’m a freak just like everypony else,” Mary turned her head to the side slowly, like she was staring at something puzzling. “I like him, we’ll keep our eyes on you Silverlight, all of our eyes. Right Sir Trottsalot?”
“Now that was relaxing,” Cherry laughed as her and Astral walked down the hallway after exiting the school spa. “We should, ’train’, like this more often Astral,”
“I’ll say, it was invigorating. In my opinion I think it’s the only way to train,” Astral replied as she and Cherry began laughing. Astral’s friend then began eyeing her with alluring eyes.
“Soooooo, Astral, I’ve been meaning to ask, what’s the deal with you and Silver?”
“I’m not sure I follow,” Astral replied with a confused demeanor.
“Oh come on, is he your, ya know?” Cherry leaned in closer to her friend and placed a hoof next to her mouth as if trying not to let any words escape. “Your special somepony?” Hearing her friend’s personal question, Astral’s face began to turn a shade red which was easily visible when compared to her normal cyan color.
“What!? No! We’re just close friends, best Friends at that. I mean, sure we share a dorm room and all but-” Astral’s nervous stammering was interrupted by a sudden outburst of laughter from Cherry.
“Wow, you should have seen your face, it was as red as an apple,” the pink unicorn wiped away a tear of joy before she continued. “I know you guys are close and all, but I get this feeling like there’s more to it with you,”
“Well, when I first came to Arcane Academy, I wasn’t too sure I’d make it here on my own. But all that changed when I met him,” Astral’s blushing face was gone and now replaced by a look of admiration. “He convinced me not to drop out and since then, we’ve been the best of friends. While its true I do care about him deeply that idiot is so dense he never knows when I’m expressing my true feelings to him; so I’ve always been more of a big sister image to him than a special somepony,”
“Can’t say me and Chip were any similar, we’ve been best friends since magical kindergarten; our families grew up together and we continued on the tradition,” Cherry began smiling as she spoke. “We both wanted to hone our skills better so our parents managed to get us both in Arcane Academy together,”
As the two friends reminisced about their first moments at the academy, they were completely unaware that a third unicorn had approached them and stared on silently like a ghost. It wasn’t until Mary spoke that either pony knew she was there.
“It must be nice to have friends,” she began as she carried with her one of her puppets. “The company of others must make you feel so……alive,”
“Hey, aren’t you-?”
“I just came to observe, but I’m done now,” Mary turned her back on the unicorns as she began walking away but still talking. “Come on Sir Trottsalot, it’ll be announced soon, let’s go see mother and father to celebrate,”
Astral and Cherry watched with dumbfounded expressions as the unicorn disappeared after turning a corner, she had left as quickly as she had appeared; and just as mysterious.
“Okay, now that, was really weird,” Cherry said as her and Astral continued to walk down the hallway. “What do you suppose she meant by ’it’ll be announced soon’?”
“I’m not too sure, but I think I’m starting to agree with Silver,” Astral shuddered slightly as her and Cherry continued their walk. “That pony is pretty weird,”
Silverlight and Chip walked slowly as they rounded the bend of the school track for their last time. Both ponies were tired and gasping for air, their bodies were covered in light scratches and bruises from the training they had gone through.
“Man, for an earth pony you sure can put up a fight. You may be ranked as a 3rd Class Student but I’d put you at 2nd ,“ Chip laughed as Silver caught up to him in a quick trott.
“Well I did manage to figure out a way to beat the spirit of chaos, AND I landed a decent blow on Midnight in a battle we had so I guess you could say I’m pretty awesome,” Silverlight laughed as he stopped trotting to pose heroically.
“Yeah I heard about that duel, you got your flank kicked and worse would have happened if principal Solar Wind didn’t show up,” Chip teased as he watched the earth pony as he stopped his posing and looked annoyed.
“Ah shut up, I totally won that fight!”
Silverlight’s ranting was interrupted as a loud noise echoed throughout the campus as the school PA system came on.
“Greetings my wonderful students, this is principal Solar Wind here to bring you all a special announcement.”
“Principal Solar Wind giving a special announcement? Last time I ever heard those words was when Midnight first became a 1st Class Student,” Silverlight pondered as another thought crossed his mind. “Hehehe, maybe principal Solar Wind has finally recognized what an awesome student I am and ranked me up to 1st Class?”
“As if,” Chip interjected. “I’m a better candidate for 1st than you are,” he teased as he gave the earth pony a friendly shove.
“The announcement I’m making is to recognize a student’s tremendous growth in the short time that she’s been here at our academy. In only her first three days at Arcane Academy, 4th Class Student miss Mary Anette has proven that she has earned and deserves the rank of 1st Class, congratulations Mary. Unfortunately that’s all the announcements that I have for today, good luck again to those who are participating in the trials, and all of you have a wonderful day!”
The speakers which were outside made a static like crackle noise before dying down. Chip and Silverlight seemed as though they were frozen where they stood, with differing expressions on both of their faces. Chip’s face was one of astonishment, he couldn’t believe that there was actually somepony who was on the same level as Midnight, especially not one as quiet and awkward as Mary had shown to be. Chip then turned his gaze to Silver who’s look was definitely not one of astonishment, but fear.
’How? How could she have become a 1st Class Student? She’s as delicate as a flower that would wilt away if somepony so as much even touched her. And this feeling,’ Silverlight began to shiver as he stood petrified staring blankly ahead with wide eyes. ’Why am I suddenly overcome with so much dread and apprehension?’
"Hey, Silver, you okay man?" Chip asked as he tapped the pony on the shoulder to gain his attention. "You look like you just seen a ghost,"
"Nah, I'm fine, just... Just a cold breeze caught me, that's all,"
"Cold breeze?" Chip looked around as if trying to find any source which may have caused a temperature change. "I didn't feel any-"
"Race ya back to my dorm room!" Silverlight interjected as he took off down the hall.
"Hey! Get your flank back here you cheater!" Chip laughed back as he chased after his white haired friend.