//------------------------------// // 29. Academy // Story: Divine Entertainment // by Orthoros //------------------------------// Atlas made his way past the throng of ponies that occupied the main road. Almost a week had passed since he’d enlisted with the military of the Crystal Kingdom, and now he was on his way towards the Academy they were sending him to. His lessons would officially start tomorrow, but he was required to appear today, so they could show him around. He’d also be getting a room in the dorms, which he was required to move into. Crimson and Belle were both able to find jobs without much of a hassle. Atlas was glad that they would be able to live a normal live from now on, especially Belle. After she spent most of her life on the street, this would be a good change for her. Until now they’d spent their nights at a hotel, using what money they had left. Apparently salary in the pony world was paid weekly, so they’d soon have some more bits to spend. Belle and Crimson would then start to look for a small flat near Belle’s workplace, since Crimson could easily fly to his work. Atlas would be staying in the academy dorms of course, but they made sure they would meet up at least once a week. While thinking about various things, Atlas approached his destination. The academy was located on one of the kingdom’s many “islands”, as they came to call them; massive platforms that protruded from the side of the mountain, supporting various facilities, and sometimes even small villages. The ‘island’ he was currently approaching was home to one of the four military academies in the kingdom. Although they were called academies, by the size of them, one could probably call them small cities, housing a few thousand ponies at any given time. Each one was home to various research facilities pertaining to magic, as well as the actual academies which were used to teach magic and tactics used to survive in the military. Several other unicorns were either ascending or descending from the island, a lot of them carrying what looked like important documents. They were happily talking to each other about their magical research, but to Atlas it sounded mostly like gibberish. He crested the hill and got his first look at the academy he’d be attending from now on. At least he thought he would, but instead he was greeted by a large circular wall, built from a kind of white stone; it spanned almost the whole island in diameter. From the center of the wall emerged a huge tower, also built from the white stone, overlooking the whole academy. While he was curious as to how it looked from the inside, it seemed like he had to wait a little bit longer. He rejoined the stream of ponies moving towards a broad gate in the wall. Guards were placed on both sides of the gate, but apparently they were intended to be a more of a deterrent than anything else. Everypony else passed through the gate without paying them much attention, so Atlas decided to do the same and stepped through the portal. Upon entering, various buildings of different sizes came into view, a few looked like they were just big enough to house a family, while others were multiple stories high and hundreds of feet wide. Through the gaps in the buildings, he could see yet more walls on both sides, creating a section within the walled off area. Atlas stopped at the side of the road, and rummaged through his saddlebags in search of one particular document. After a while he procured a rolled up scroll and unfurled it on the ground before him. Written on it were instructions for Atlas, which he received from Emerald Chaos last week: according to it, he was supposed to go to the tower in the center, where someone would help him out. He let the parchment roll itself back up before putting in into his saddlebag again. He got up and continued along the paved street towards the tower. After a while he reached the center of the section he was in, where two streets formed a crossroads. The one he was on went straight from the entrance towards the tower in the center. The other one seemed to be slightly curved, following the general outline of the academy-city and led to a gate to each side of him, each gate lead to other sections of the city. Atlas ignored those for now and went straight ahead, approaching the gate which led to the center. Guards were stationed at this gate too, suggesting that every gate had a pair of them standing there. He emerged from the walls, and got his first good look at the center section. Alas, it was rather unremarkable. Around the base of the tower was a space of around thirty feet separating the tower from the wall. Now that he was so close to it, he realized how high it really was. He looked up and was impressed that unicorns were able to build something like this. He estimated the tower to be about 600 feet high. Nothing special to a former human, but still impressive for a bunch of magical ponies that were essentially in the middle ages, at least in terms of human history. Although the two couldn’t really be compared, seeing as ponies had magic. Atlas pushed on, entering through yet another gate, this one on the side of the tower. The inside was one big room, spanning the whole of the tower’s base. Complete with a much higher than needed ceiling. Atlas once again halted his progress to take it all in. He counted six gates, each one evenly spaced from each other around the tower’s wall. Ponies entered or exited from each of them and approached one of seven counters. Next to each entrance were enough desks for ten ponies, lines forming in front of them. While in the center of the room was a circular reception like construct. On the inside were yet again ten unicorns talking to their respective customers. Over the desks near the entrances, flags were hung, each group featuring a different color and sigil. The colors were green, orange, red, pink and blue, while the center bore a purple flag featuring the tower Atlas was currently in. He quickly made the connection to the different academies of magic and approached the center reception. Seeing as this one seemed to be a more general reception desk, he put his money on this being the right one for him. He approached a stallion which was currently free and introduced himself. “Hi. My name’s Atlas and I’m supposed to enroll at the academy today.” He said while pulling out the letter of introduction from his saddlebag. The blue stallion took the letter without a word and scanned its content. “Leave through this door.” He pointed towards one of the gates. “Beyond lies the academy district. You’ll see a small house bearing our academy flag right when you enter. Go there and ask to talk with Sharp Quill, she’ll help you.” The pony slipped back Atlas’s letter and went back to his paperwork. “Uhh… Thanks.” Atlas said. “I guess…” Atlas decided to not pay it too much thought as he proceeded to do as he was told. He left through the indicated door and went into the apparent academy district. True to the blue stallion’s word, one of the first buildings he saw was the one he was told about. Relatively small with two floors, it reminded him about a normal family home back on Earth. Atlas let his gaze wander, taking in more of the district that would be his home for the foreseeable future. Compared to the district Atlas entered, this one seemed almost empty. All he could see besides the small building in front of him were two other buildings. To his right was a large building with four floors. In the center was a lavishly decorated entrance as well as what he assumed to be a clock tower. Albeit in stead of the clock Atlas knew, there was a simple sundial installed. Above it he could see several bells, which caused him to believe this to be the actual academy building. To his left was another large building, this one much cruder and effective in style, as well as only three floors high. To hazard a guess, Atlas would put his bits on it being the dorms. Between the two buildings was a large open space. Considering the academy and dorm buildings were on opposite sides of the district, the space in between could even be called huge. Though it was far from being empty. From where Atlas stood he could spot a lot of different things, ranging from obstacle courses to recreational areas. Unicorns seemed to be training with spells all over the place, presumably of the kind one should not cast while being inside. Having seen enough, Atlas approached the small building in front of him. He pushed open the door and entered into a small room. Aside from two doors and a single desk, there was nothing. Atlas furrowed his brows as he took a closer look at the desk, seeing a single small bell resting on top of it. Realizing it probably was there to call somepony who was working here, he approached it and gave it a hearty smack, breaking the silence with a cheerfully annoying ring. It didn’t take a long time until the door to his right opened up and a yellow unicorn mare entered the room. She had a red mane with a blue stripe running through the middle. A color palette Atlas mentally classified as bad OC material. “Hello, how can I help you?” She asked as she took her place behind the desk. “I was told to find someone named Sharp Quill here.” Atlas explained. “I’m supposed to start studying here at the Academy tomorrow.” Atlas dug his letter of introduction out of his saddlebag once again, hoofing it over to her. “Well you’ve found her then.” The mare smiled. “I’m Sharp Quill, pleased to meet you.” Sharp Quill read through the letter, setting it aside next to the bell once she finished. “And you must be Mr. Atlas, I was expecting you already.” She said. “I have heard a great deal about you.” “Really?” Atlas raised his eyebrow. “I hope nothing bad.” “Oh don’t worry, nothing like that.” Sharp Quill assured him. “It’s just been a while since we got a transfer student from outside the kingdom. Much less somepony who can’t access his magic.” She explained with a smile on her face. “And to top it all off, you have a twin affinity! I have great expectations for you Mr. Atlas.” “Is having a twin affinity really such a big deal?” Alex asked. “More than you would think probably.” Sharp Quill responded. “Only about one in every hundred thousand unicorns have a twin affinity. The only thing that’s more rare are unicorns with a magic affinity. As such, you’re already somewhat of a celebrity around here.” She finished with a smirk. “Should I have to worry?” Atlas asked. “Not really, but ponies will have expectations of you that they won’t have towards a normal student. It all depends on if you can live up to them.” Sharp Quill elaborated. “Well, I’ll try my best then.” Atlas replied with a raised eyebrow. “Good to hear!” Sharp Quill said. “But let’s get you all set up first, alright?” “Sure.” “Very well then, please follow me.” Sharp Quill said as she got up, trotting towards the door leading outside. Atlas grabbed his letter of introduction from the desk and put it back into his saddlebag as he started to follow her. Once they were outside, Sharp Quill locked the door and started to explain. “This small building here is mostly to receive and process visitors.” She told Atlas. “I’m stationed here alone, and it doubles as my home. My job is to guide visitors to where they need to be.” She started trotting towards the building which Atlas assumed was the dorms before. On their way there, they passed several groups of unicorns in various states of activity. Some of them seemed to just hang out and relax in a sunny spot, while others were concentrated so hard on trying to learn some new spell, that you could practically see the steam rolling out of their ears. “For now I’ll show you the dorms and your room.” Sharp Quill said, confirming Atlas’s suspicion of the buildings purpose. “Seeing as you don’t have any experience with magic, I’ve paired you with a roommate who is quite talented, so feel free to ask him anything if you have a question. He’ll also show you around the rest of the academy.” “That sounds really convenient, thanks.” Atlas said. “Well I believe both of you will be able to profit off this arrangement equally. Teaching someone is also a method of learning you know.” Sharp Quill said happily. They arrived at the entrance of the dorms, which was a simple double door, both of which were wide open to allow easy access. They entered into some kind of foyer. A big room greeted them, filled with tables providing seating. A few groups of unicorns were sparsed out through the large room, as they animatedly discussed everything from magical theories to the latest gossip. A few potted plants were distributed along the walls, bringing some color into the otherwise bland room. To their left was another double door, the smell of food billowed from beyond them, indicating it as some sort of dining hall. On their right side, yet another double door led towards what seemed to be a recreational area. On the far side of the room, two sets of stairs led up. “Welcome to the dorms.” Sharp Quill said. “On the first floor are the areas for everybody to enjoy. On the second floor are the rooms for stallions, and the third floor houses the mares.” Sharp Quill and Atlas approached the staircase to their right and ascended to the second floor. A long hallway greeted them, stretching the whole length of the building. “Your room number is two thousand sixty-four, you’ll find it in the south wing of the building.” She told Atlas while guiding him down the hallway. “Ok, gotcha.” Atlas said while following her. Eventually they arrived at a door that had the number two thousand and sixty-four painted on it in gold paint. “Well, this is as far as I’ll take you.” Sharp Quill said. “Your roommate has been tasked with the rest of your tour. He’s also in the possession of a roomkey for you.” “Alright, thank you very much.” Atlas said politely. They shook hooves and Sharp Quill started on her way back. Meanwhile Atlas knocked on the door before him, expecting his new roommate to greet him. After a while of nothing happening he knocked again. Again, he was greeted by silence. “I’m coming in, alright?” Atlas said loud and clear before turning the knob while pushing the door open. Inside was a room one would expect from a dorm. Two beds were placed in opposite sides of the room, as well as a simple desk on each side. The left side was obviously already claimed by his roommate, indicated by the personal knick-knacks lying around. Meanwhile the right bed and desk were completely empty. “Not here, huh…” Atlas muttered. He closed the door before taking off his saddlebag and throwing it onto the right side desk. He approached the bed and literally jumped on it, coming to a stop in a lying position on his back. “Nothing to do but wait I guess.” Atlas said. It was still early in the afternoon, so his new roommate was probably still inside a classroom somewhere. Letting his thoughts drift to what would lay ahead of him, Atlas got himself comfortable as he waited.