//------------------------------// // Part 1: Chapter: 9 // Story: Arcane Academy: Celestia's New Student // by TheDimensionRift //------------------------------// “After reviewing his wound over night, I’m afraid what you thought was a sprain is actually quite worse. He’s suffered a pretty severe fracture and it’ll be several weeks, maybe even months before his injury has healed. All he can do now is get some rest,” “But doctor, what about the Arcane Trials!?” Silverlight questioned the light blue unicorn with a look of concern on his face. “Princess Celestia gets back tomorrow and that means we move on with the final trial. Midnight’s a participant, you mean to tell me he won’t be able to compete?” “I’m afraid that’s correct,” the light blue unicorn adjusted his glasses as he said this. “He must rest up and allow his bone some time to heal. If he tries to perform any physical activity in his current condition, it could lead to him further damaging himself,” “Astral,” the earth pony said as he turned to his friend who was standing beside him. “You’ve studied up on this stuff, can’t you help him?” “Oh yeah, because I have a PhD in healing fractures after just reading a couple of books!” Astral replied in a sarcastic annoyed tone. She hit Silverlight over the head in a fit of anger. “Use your head you idiot or you’ll be the next one lying in that hospital bed!” “Now, now, Astral, I don’t want another one of my students to be unable to participate tomorrow,” Astral and Silverlight swirled around to be greeted by the warm smile of a large golden alicorn whom they recognized right away. “Principle Solar Wind,” Silverlight exclaimed as they made room for the principal to enter. “I’ll give you all some privacy,” the blue unicorn said as he exited the room and shut the door behind him. “He can still compete tomorrow, right ma’am?” the white haired pony asked as his face held a hopeful expression. “I hate to say it, but tomorrow’s trial will be a physical test,” Solar Wind said as she moved closer toward Midnight who was asleep soundly in bed. “Midnight Star will not be able to take the final exam,” “Then….then that means-?” “Yes, Midnight has no chance of becoming princess Celestia’s student now,” the alicorn nuzzled against Midnight’s face as she continued. “I had only wish he had listened to me and had not challenged Mary in the first place. Now, I’ll have to disqualify him and-” “No!” Silverlight screamed as he interrupted the principal who looked back at him with shock. “He wanted to be Celestia’s student more than anything, and now, he’s getting his opportunity taken away just like that!? He’s worked hard to get where he is; to become a 1st Class Student and partake in the trials; and now your telling me that everything he did was for nothing!?” The earth pony turned his angered glare away from the Astral and principal Solar Wind who watched on in aghast. “I’ll find Mary, and I’ll make her pay for what she did to Midnight!” “Silver!” Astral cried out as she watched her friend storm out of the room. “principal Solar Wind, I-” “No, I understand, go and find Silverlight. If she can take down Midnight this easily, I can only imagine what will happen to Silver,” a worried expression overcame the alicorn’s face as she said this. “You must find Silverlight before he finds Mary. Fighting her could get him severely injured……or worse,” Principal Solar Wind exited the room as she watched the cyan unicorn gallop fast out of sight. It was a voice which emitted from behind her that startled the alicorn. “Hey, Solar, long time no see. Is that position you offered me still on the table?” Solar Wind turned around only to see a unicorn whom she hadn’t expected to see anytime soon. “Y-you!? What are you doing here?” Silverlight pushed through a crowd of other students as he galloped ahead at full speed. Amongst the crowd, a familiar face appeared to be caught in the wave, one that stood in Silverlight’s way. “Hey Silver, what’s u-?” Moongazer was cut off as he felt the head of his friend connect to his body. The blow of the head-butt sent the poor unicorn skidding out of Silverlight’s way. ‘Sorry Moon, but I have more important things to deal with and right now, your just in my way. Silver thought as he galloped past his knocked down friend. "Well, that’s one way to say hi," Moongazer said as he slowly picked himself up. "Sorry Moongazer," Astral said as she galloped past her friend and after Silverlight. "He didn't mean to do that I swear," "What the hay is going on!?" Moongazer called back to his friend as he watched her gallop out of sight. "I'll explain later!" Astral yelled as she turned the corner and continued her pursue after the earth pony. 'I've got to hurry, if Midnight was taken down by Mary, Silver won't stand a chance! He has no magic to counter act her spells, and whats more, we still don't know how she fights.' 'Rest up Midnight, and don’t you worry about Mary.' Silverlight's eyes began to emit a slight shade of light cyan as he rushed forward. 'What's this? Can I...can I finally feel it?' The light in the earth pony's eyes died down as rapidly as it had arrived, all the while, Silver's angered expression was now replaced with a confident grin. "Well alright then, now I'm really psyched!" "So, that's what you've been up to all this time," Solar Wind said with little enthusiasm as she rolled her eyes. "Still pursuing that 'Great Expedition' of yours I see," "Hahahaha, you know it! I'm just simply doing my research as a scientist and historian!" the orange unicorn laughed full-heartedly. “Science and history have nothing to do with it Ignis!” principal Solar Wind’s face was now contorted into a frown. “Your just a big old perv!” “Shhhh, you hear that,” Ignis said as he raised a hoof to silence the alicorn. His Orange ears perked up as he attempted to hone in on the sound. He walked closer to the window and pulled a pair of binoculars out of his red saddle bag as he looked out the opening at what was below him. “I was right, that’s the sound of beautiful mares!” “Don’t you sit there and drool over my students!” Solar Wind snapped as she took the binoculars away and hit the unicorn over the head with them. “Now tell me what business you have here or I’ll escort you off campus myself!” “Geez, you were always so uptight, can’t you take a joke?” Ignis said as he rubbed the throbbing wound on his head Solar had left him. “I really was doing historical research though, I’ve been just about everywhere in Equeastria and decided to pop back in for awhile and see how you and the kid were doing,” “And what are you, his father?” “Not really, but I am the closest thing to it,” the unicorn laughed. “Anyways I’m here to offer you the help you asked for before,” “You think I need help with my son?” the principal asked as she raised a curious eyebrow. “Once again, no, but you know as well as I do that a single principal cannot keep up with all the duties of such a prestigious academy such as this one,” “So…you mean-?” “Yes my dear friend,” Ignis said through a smile. “It’s time I donned my role as Arcane Academy’s vice principal,” There were a few moments of silence, however, it didn’t last long when a exhausted moan from Midnight’s body aroused some more conversation. The dark haired grey unicorn woke up with a yawn as he stretched forward and rubbed his eyes until he was fully awake. “Mother? Where am I?” Midnight asked as he sat up in his bed. He then noticed that his left leg was covered with a heavy amount of bandages. He then acknowledged the x-rays which were displayed on the opposite side of his bed. “A fracture? I thought I just had a sprain?” “So did Silverlight and Astral when they brought you in here, but that doesn’t appear to be the case,” Solar Wind began to explain. “Your injury as you can tell, was a bit more severe,” “Hey Shadow long time no se-” Ignis was interrupted as Solar Wind gave him a very forceful nudge. “We don’t call him that anymore, his name is Midnight now,” the alicorn whispered in Ignis’ ear with a cupped hoof. “Err-uh, right. Midnight. My bad.” “I don’t recall who you are so I’ll assume your no pony important,” Midnight stated as he glared at the orange unicorn. “Anyways, mother, when do I get out of here? Princess Celestia gets back tomorrow and-” Midnight stopped his speech as his bed was surrounded by a golden magical force field bubble. “Mother, what is this for?” “Midnight, son, I have some very unfortunate news,” the alicorn spoke in a sincere tone of voice now. “Due to the severity of your leg, I’m very sorry to say that you won’t be able to take the final trial tomorrow,” The unicorn’s face became a stoic blank expression as he listened to what his mother said. The temperature in the room became abnormally cold and then warm. Ignis took notice of a thermostat which was located near the doorway. The thermostat kept rising and dropping strangely, it was a phenomenon Ignis had never witnessed before. “It’s been ages since I’ve seen him get this mad,” Solar Wind whispered as she motioned for Ignis to back away from the bed. “When he gets this angry, his magic becomes highly unstable,” “Oh I get it, you put up the force field, to contain his magic, right? That bubble’s for his own protection,” Ignis asked as he watched Solar Wind’s horn begin to glow. “Not entirely,” Solar laughed nervously as she gave her old friend a half-hearted smile. “That force field is for OUR protection,” The calmness of the sea was a wondrous sight to behold; the sound of gentle waves as they crawled on the beach surface and the sight of the sun disappearing behind a cloud as it hovered overhead. Mary stood with her usual blank stare as she watched the white haired earth pony who stood several hoof lengths away. He was breathing heavy as he glared at the unicorn who only returned her usual gaze. “Hey! Mary! Your gonna pay for what you’ve done to Midnight!” Silverlight demanded as he dug his hoof into the sand. “I didn’t do anything, he brought that injury upon himself. He was the sole instrument of his own destruction—" “Shut up!” the earth pony barked. “Sure he’s got a temper, and I wouldn’t put it past him if he was the one who started the fight between you two,” Silverlight paused as he was still trying to steady his breathing from running so fast. “But that didn’t give you the right to do what you did! Now because of you, he won’t be able to perform in the trials tomorrow!” “Oh, I see, that’s rather unfortunate,” Mary levitated Sir Trottsalot out of her saddle bag as she spoke. “So what? Why should any of that concern me? While it’s true I find Midnight interesting because of how powerful he is,” Mary’s horn began emitting a bright light, and within seconds, her miniature puppet had transformed into a life size one. “But still, that doesn’t mean I care for him or anything that happens to him. You should feel the same, he holds himself above everypony else including you; claiming that no pony is on his level. Yet, here you are preparing to fight for his honor, and all I can ask is: why?” Mary’s face finally showed a sign of emotional distress as the unicorn hung her head low with a saddened expression. Seeing this, Silver lost his own glare and now wore a concerned face. “Why do you care for somepony who doesn’t even accept your friendship? Ponies are all the same, once they’ve made up their mind on how they see you than there’s nothing you can do to change that,” Mary’s puppet began nuzzling next to her as she spoke. “Ponies see you and they judge you, they may not say it out loud, but deep down you know it’s true. They call you names like ‘freak’ or ‘weirdo’ and they say such hurtful things. Then when you actually try to extend a feeling of friendship, they reject you and theirs nothing you can do to change that!” Silverlight listened intently as Mary’s tone and expression changed rapidly. He could now easily make out a faint stream of clear liquid sliding down the side of the unicorn’s face. “I’ve always been picked on or judged just because I’m good with puppets. It’s not my fault that my special talent is so weird, why do ponies have to be so cruel just because of how you act or what you do?” Mary’s faint steams of tears only became more visible as the unicorn now began weeping. “That’s….that’s why my only friends have always been my puppets that papa made me. Puppets don’t make fun of you because your so distant and antisocial; they don’t call you names or make mean jokes about you and your special talent; and above all else,” the unicorn choked at her words as she tried to finish, however the last bit of her statement came out as more of a whisper. “And above all else, puppets don’t abandon you,” Silverlight stared on as Mary began sobbing uncontrollably. The earth pony’s face was a sympathetic one, instead of his angered expression he originally arrived with. A light tap on Silver’s head made him look up to see several rain clouds forming overhead, the rain fell gently against the face of the pony as he slowly walked toward Mary. “Midnight is no saint; he’s rude; stuck up; inconsiderate; has way too much pride; and I’m even sure he tried to kill me once. And yeah your right, he constantly rejects my friendship, but it doesn’t matter to me what he thinks. Because I know that’s just how he is and I can’t change that, but what I can change is my approach to offer my friendship,” Silver stopped a ways away from Mary as he watched her puppet wrap around her, as though it were defending her. “I know what you did to Midnight was an accident, and to be honest, I’m still a bit ticked about it; but that won’t change the way I view you. In fact, now I feel like I understand you better. Not all ponies are the same, yeah there are some real nasty ones out there,” the earth pony paused as he crept ever closer toward the crying unicorn. “But there’s also ponies out there just as good who can’t wait to be your friend, all you have to do is give ‘em a chance,” “How do I know they won’t abandon me?” Mary still chocked at her words as she tried to calm down and wipe the tears from her eyes. “How do I know they won’t just abandon me like all the other important ponies in my life who left?” “I’m not all that great at giving advice, but I do know a little something about accepting the fact that somepony is no longer in your life,” Silver was now able to make eye contact with the unicorn, though the now pouring rain made it difficult for him to keep it. “Ponies will leave your life eventually, but that’s in the future. What you should do is just enjoy the moments your sharing with them now. Sometimes, ponies will walk out of our lives or some other uncontrollable factor will take them from us, that’s out of our hooves and we have to learn to accept this change and move on,” Silver paused as he closed his eyes and gave Mary a smile which seemed to lighten the tension between them. “Sometimes the only thing we can do when it’s raining is to just let it rain; so why not go outside and splash in the puddles?” Mary’s eyes widened as she stared at Silver’s grinning smile, in return she gave him a faint one back. She decreased Sir Trottsalot’s size and rested him upon her head once more. “Now come on, let’s had back to the academy. If we stay out here we’ll catch a cold and I got a super important exam I gotta take tomorrow; I can’t afford to get sick,” the pony said through a laugh. “Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no. I’ve searched everywhere and there’s still no sign of Silver or Mary anywhere,” Astral thought out loud while she galloped through the halls of Arcane Academy. Astral stopped all her galloping and ducked down as she placed her hooves over her head. “Oh Silver, where in Equeastria are you?” “Well I was on my way to the dorm room to catch some rest,” The cyan unicorn stood up and turned around when she heard the familiar friendly voice. Walking down the hall towards her with his usual grin was her best friend. “Sweet Celestia Silver! I’m glad to see you,” Astral said with a sigh as she rushed her friend and embraced him with a hug. “You had me worried when I lost track of you, I thought you were dead,” “Nope, still alive and in one piece,” the earth pony turned in circles as he said this. “At least I think I am” “Soooo….your alright then?” “Yup, never better,” “Good,” Astral replaced her smiling face with an angered one. She hit Silver over the head with her hoof and glared at the earth pony. “How dare you run off on your own like that you idiot! You could’ve been seriously hurt, or worse! Mary could’ve-” Astral’s expression was now one of fear and concern as she remembered the reason why her friend had ran off in the first place. “Mary! Where is she!? Did you beat her, if so, how!?” “Geez, aren’t you jumpy?” Silver asked as he pushed his best friend away in a friendly manner. “I didn’t have to fight her, we just had a bit of a heart to heart conversation,” “You two just…….…..talked?” “Yeah, she’s not all that bad when you get to know her,” Silver and Astral walked down the hallway continuing their conversation on their way to their room. “And her puppets are actually pretty cool, it’s no wonder she’s a 1st Class Student now,” “Well that’s nice and all, but I still have one question,” Astral said as her and Silverlight rounded the corner. “Where exactly……...is Mary?” “Oh she’s fine, she’s off righting some wrongs, correcting some mistakes,” the white haired pony replied with a nervous laugh. “What I mean is, she’s off apologizing to a certain somepony,” “Okay, it’s taken me a few hours but I’ve finally managed to calm myself down and get my magic under control,” Midnight said to himself as he sat up in his hospital bed and looked around at what he had done earlier. The window of the room was frozen over which kept the sunlight from coming in and the room’s floor was covered in ice and and faint remnants of snow. “And to think, all it took for me to calm down was a little peace and-” “Excuse me Midnight Star,” a voice said as a knock came at Midnight’s room door. “You have a visitor here to see you,” “Well so much for peace and quiet,” Midnight said with annoyance in his voice as he rolled his eyes. “Alright, let ‘em in!” ‘It’s probably just mother checking up on me again.’ The frozen door cracked as the ice broke off its hinges and slowly crept open. The door was left ajar for a few moments before a violent force slammed it open. “There’s no need to be so forceful moth-” Midnight immediately cut himself off as he stared at who was standing in his doorway. However, his curious stare turned into one of extreme intensity as he immediately recognized who had come to pay him a visit. “You!....you’ve got a lot of nerve for showing your face to me after what you did!” Mary entered the room cautiously and even though Midnight’s rage was almost palpable, the beige unicorn had no puppets with her, simply a basket of muffins and a jar of apple juice. She closed the door behind her and continued to stare on at Midnight who’s eyes were burning with rage, she could have sworn she could almost feel the flames. “Midnight, I’ve come to reconcile our differences,” Mary said as she slowly lowered the basket in front of her. “I have some muffins here I thought you’d-” “You FRACTURED my hind leg and now I won’t be able to perform in the trials tomorrow!” Midnight growled through gritted teeth. “My only opportunity to be Celestia’s student is ruined and you expect to ‘reconcile our differences’ by bringing me a basket of MUFFINS!?” Midnight could feel the room growing colder as he raged on. ‘Calm down Midnight, remember what mother said. The last thing you want is to freeze yourself to death.’ Midnight exhaled a sigh as he attempted to calm his nerves, his facial expression however, was unwavering. “Make no mistake about it Mary, when my injury has fully healed,” the dark haired unicorn locked his eyes on Mary’s as he finished. “I’ll destroy you!” ‘Silverlight said that this wasn’t going to be easy,’ Mary thought to herself as she let out a sigh and watched Midnight glare back at her. ‘But…I have to try,’ “I know what I did was wrong, and I didn’t intend for things to go the way they did; but I just wanted to let you know I’m sorry. Words cannot begin to express how sorry I am, so,” Mary reached into her picnic basket and pulled out a small piece of wood which had a fine sharp point carved into the edge. “So I’m willing to give you what it is you want most,” Mary walked closer toward Midnight who was now confused by the words of the unicorn. She placed the wooden instrument on the bed in Midnight’s lap as she stared at him blankly. “What is this for?” Midnight asked as he was still confused by Mary’s actions. “You said that it’s all my fault, and this much is true. You wish to destroy me when your healed so,” Mary now pointed a hoof at the sharpened wood. “What you have before you is the instrument of my destruction. If your greatest desire right now is to destroy me, and that is the only way I can obtain your forgiveness, then so be it,” Midnight’s demeanor shifted dramatically as he began to understand what the unicorn was saying. Midnight levitated the piece of wood as he began contemplating his decisive decision. ‘What is she saying? She would offer up her own life just to seek my forgiveness? Why? Why does it mean that much to her? “I just have one question,” Midnight began as his face was still lost in confusion. “Why does my forgiveness mean so much to you? Why does it matter whether I forgive you or not?” “It’s because,” Mary paused as she began to do something which made Midnight open his eyes wide with shock; the unicorn who never showed any signs of her feelings, was smiling at him. Not a fake smile, not a half-hearted one, but a genuine emotional smile. “Well, it’s because I wanna be your friend,” A look of astonishment overcame Midnight’s face as he hung on to the last words the unicorn said. Time felt as though it slowed in the few moments that Midnight watched the unicorn’s smile and tried to understand her words. ‘She…….She kind of reminds me of him, of Silver. She’s changed, that much I can tell, but I still don’t understand why? Why is everypony so obsessed with making friends? What is the purpose of making friends? What is the reason behind it?' As his own thoughts began conflicting with one another, Midnight remember the words of his mother only a few days before. “You’ve read for yourself what King Sombra and his magic was like, I don’t want you to be a replication of that whatsoever. That’s why I’m always encouraging you to make some friends, I don’t want you to walk a dark path like he once did,” “Just remember everything I taught you, and Midnight, do try to make some friends. If you really wish to get stronger, then allow your friends to give you strength,” ‘Is there something I’m not getting? What good does having friends do? I’ve trained all my life solely by myself and I’m already so skilled, could having friends really make me stronger? I don’t know, there’s so much I still don’t understand.’ Midnight shook his head gently, as though trying to clear his mind. ‘Well, I guess there’s only one way to find out.’ After putting in enough thought, Midnight felt as though he had finally come to his conclusion. A golden aura formed around the carved wooden piece and levitated until it hovered above Mary’s head. Her face was now an expression of sadness as she had realized what this meant. “Oh….….I see……...I guess you’ve made up your mind?” Mary questioned as she stared at Midnight who didn’t dare look in her direction anymore. “Yes, I have, I’m sorry Mary,” as he said this the dagger like piece of wood came shooting down in Mary’s direction. Fearing The inevitable was about to occur, Mary closed her eyes and prepared for her departure from Arcane Academy, from this world. It seems as though the wood took an eternity as it neared closer to Mary’s head, at such close range, missing was impossible, and no pony was around to intervene; certainly this was Mary’s final hour. As she waited patiently for her end, Mary remembered what Silver had told her on the beach. ‘I’m sorry Silverlight, she thought. ‘I guess changing my approach to offer my friendship didn’t help me at all. In fact, it only made things worse. A tear gently rolled down the unicorn’s face from under her shut eyes. ‘Grandma, I’ll be with you soon, and then, you can show me all the puppet spells that you were supposed to show me before you passed. I’m sorry I didn’t become a skilled puppet master like you wanted.’ Mary waited patiently, however, her patience turned into curiosity when she noticed something strange. She did not feel her life slipping away; she didn’t feel the pain of the object she had carved stabbing into her; in fact, she felt as though nothing happened. She opened her eyes to be greeted by a frightening sight to behold. Inches away from her face was the sharp edged wood, floating safely in mid air and not heading her way. She watched as the wood began smoking and then quickly burst into flames, reducing the object to ash before her eyes. She then looked at Midnight who still didn’t look at her, instead, he looked out his frozen window; though he still spoke aloud without facing her. “I’m sorry, but my forgiveness will not be earned so easily,” Midnight cleared his throat before he turned his usual glare towards Mary and continued. “It’s gonna be some time before I’m up able to do any physical work, so, until then I want you to take care of both my assignments and your own. You put me in here so I guess its only fair that I ask you for this favor. I can’t afford to fall behind or I’ll lose my 1st Class position; and besides, we’re in the same class students so odds are we’ll be doing the same exact assignments. You’ll be knocking out two task simply by performing one,” “Ye-Yes, I understand. The day is still young so I better get started right away,” Mary turned to face the door as she said this. “Hey, Mary, one more thing before you go,” Midnight stared back out at his window as he continued. “It would be nice to have a little bit of company every once in awhile. Silverlight is obnoxious and principal Solar Wind will be busy, so I was wondering if you’d visit me from time to time? Things will get pretty boring around here and it’d be kinda nice to talk to somepony, ya know what I mean?” “Y-yeah….you got it!” Mary exclaimed with a smile. She opened the door to exit the room, but not without expressing her gratitude to Midnight. “Hey, Midnight, thanks…..you know….for giving me a chance to be your friend,” “Whatever,” Midnight scoffed as his face flooded with red. “Don’t get the wrong idea, I never once said we were friends,” “You didn’t have to,” Mary laughed as she continued out the door. “Your actions speak for you,” “Get outta here before I change my mind!” Though his last remark came out strong, Mary didn’t sense any true hostility or anger within it. Mary shut the door which was still covered in ice, then, she put on a warm smile as she galloped off to retrieve her and Midnight’s assignments from their classroom. ‘Thank you Silverlight, because of you I was able to change my own view of others and start anew. And thank you too Midnight, because of you I have an amazing opportunity to make my first friend.