Scattered Thoughts

by Coyote Mustang

The Beginning

To Miss Twilight Sparkle, my most faithful student,

In light of your recent accomplishments in the field of magical repulsion spell casting, it is my pleasure to ask if you would join me at the royal school for gifted unicorns to teach a series of lectures on the proper identification of threat spells and proper counterspell casting techniques that have been developed over the ages. The lectures will be presented to the four different levels of my Magic School, and the requirements of each lecture will, naturally, have to be adjusted to cater to the needs of each level. I would also like you to make up a list of spells for demonstration purposes for each level of class as well.

For each lecture, I wish for you to have information on all of magic theory in terms of both spell and counterspell and all advances made in this field. Also include many prominent figures in magic theory, magic casting and great wizards of time. This list can include but not limited to:

Clover the Clever- Founder of Hearth’s Warming Eve and inventor of many fire spells.

Wildstar the Witless- Inventor of the memory spells, created the first and only memory wipe spell. most likely by accident.

Decimus the Dreaded-Created body swapping spell, executed for high treason after found impersonating Celestia’s personal body guard.

Starswirl the Bearded- first official protege of Princess Celestia, Created numerous spells, your favorite spellcaster.

Lambtuck the Gormless- creator of many school implements for unicorns. Items to include magic counting beans, auto abacus, and pencils that sharpen themselves.

Periwinkle the Graceful- created first magic wing spell, also designed the first pony parachute.

As for the direction of each class’s demonstrations, I leave that completely up to you. I would advise caution simply on the ages of the students. I'm sure my graduates can handle a full powered aging spell with ease but a first year may have trouble with that. Please pick spells appropriate to each level and simplicity is key for proper learning. This doesn’t mean, however, that it can't be in anyway fun. Humor is a good thing to have for both the students learning as well as the teacher’s patience.

As I have told you, this is a series of lectures to be done over the period of a week at the school. And seeing as it has been close to ten years since you were here last, i feel that i must inform you of each class and what I hope you include in your lecture.

The first lecture of the week is for the first year students at the school. If you remember your first year, you understand the level these students are at so I ask that you plan accordingly. I would suggest a basic spell demonstration but most of the lecture should be a simple introduction to the topic.

The next day’s lecture contains those who have advanced to basic spell casting. Again, the age-appropriateness of the lecture should be noted and followed. My suggestion is to bring in the beginnings of counterspelling and how one can tell the spells to be used. A more in depth demonstration can be used as well, but please keep it simple.

The third lecture of the week contains those in the Advanced Spell casting classes, and this is where your imagination can begin to blossom in terms of the creativity. Greater knowledge can be accessed here, beginning with a small review and moving quickly into a mostly demonstration based counterspelling lecture. Use the examples you wish to reveal, but make sure no student can harm another.

Lastly, the final lecture is for the graduates of the school. This lecture’s content will be left completely up to you, though I would suggest an in depth review of all previous information they have on the subject and then move into specialty fields of the art. I will however be making a small addition to the demonstration part of the lecture. I will be testing a special spell on the class this day, and wish to keep it a secret from them.

Of course, you will need some time to rearrange your busy schedule to accommodate for this proposal, so if you could get back to me with a week in which you are free, we shall set up and proceed with the lectures.It is a tough task I have set forth to you, But I have no doubt that your organizational abilities will shine like they always do. I wish to reassure you that if you can not find a date suitable or if it conflicts with your schedule to the point where it would be impossible for you to attend, I will respect your decision and I will proceed without the lectures.

I also know that the details in this missive are scant and leaves much to be said, but I fear that I will not be able to convey the full message to you in writing. If you do agree to do the lectures I would like to meet with you a few days before to go over what it is I have planned and what each lecture will entail. I apologize for this Twilight, but I wish to assure you that the students are truly excited to meet you.

Thank you for your time and The students and me hope to see you soon.

Your Royal Teacher,

Princess Celestia

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Twilight reread the letter over and over again on the way up the mountain. She had read it so many times that she could recite it by heart if she were asked, but seeing as how she was the only one on board the 10 AM train to Canterlot, she resorted to just rereading the letter again. For Twilight this was a big day: she had never been asked to teach a class before, let alone four. And if Twilight were to be honest, she was really quite nervous about teaching. This contributed to her excessive reading of the letter as the train continued on towards Canterlot.

She had spent the last few weeks writing out her notes in preparation for anything the princess could throw at her, determining the proper spell defenses to talk about and their necessity in the daily life. She had read through all of her books and tried to compile all of it into a single lecture for each class. She had even made note cards to read from, but as her friends pointed out, 600 cards was a bit too much information for each lecture to have. Twilight let out a nervous laugh at the thought as her eyes scanned the page once again. Before she reached the section on needing to rearrange her schedule, the conductor Interrupted her with a loud call.

“Next stop, Canterlot Station!” he yelled as he passed through the car. Twilight placed the letter into one of the pockets of the saddlebags she carried.

“It’s okay, Twilight,” she began, her eyes moving around the car. “This is going to be a piece of cake. You defeated Discord, a couple of classes full of young fillies and colts can’t be all that bad, right?”

Twilight’s feelings of nausea subsided slightly and for a moment, she felt like she could teach the lectures. But as the train decelerated to a stop at the station, her confidence flatlined. Twilight hadn’t taken her first step off the train when a loud voice called her name over the cacophony of sound that filtered through the train station. A few ponies turned their heads in the direction of the call, but most kept to their own business. Twilight stepped onto the station platform and made her way to the voices approximate location. She soon noticed the two armoured guards standing near the platform’s edge as she continued over.

“Miss Twilight Sparkle?” the taller one asked as they approached her. Twilight was startled when she looked at the guard’s eyes.

“Stormwind, is that you?” she asked as she watched the guard take off his helmet.

“I’m glad to see you still remember my name, Twilight,” Stormwind said as he placed his helmet in the crook of his foreleg.

Stormwind was exceptionally tall for a pegasus, towering over Twilight by at least a head. His blue mane hung over his eyes slightly, his black frame as strong as she remembered it. His armor held dents from previous engagements, and the shine wasn’t really up to Equestrian army standards. His legs showed the scars of battle but his eyes showed nothing but compassion for Twilight.

He was flanked by a younger pegasus, a child compared to Stormwind. He had a much shiner set of armor, one not dented from abuse or worn from age. His armor looked like it had just been made, and the rank displayed on the front of his uniform proved her right.

“Private Squall, take miss Twilight’s bags and bring them to the carriage on the double!” Stormwind yelled, causing the mass of armor to move to retrieve her luggage. Stormwind turned his attention back to Twilight, who was giving him a soft smile.

“It’s been a while, Stormwind. How are you?” Twilight questioned as they began to walk out of the station.

“Life’s been going good for me as of late. I just got another promotion not too long ago. Oh I also got married,” Stormwind replied as he shifted his ears to show the earrings he wore. A small ruby sat in a golden clasp near the edge of each ear, shining brightly in the station’s light.

“That’s wonderful to hear,” Twilight exclaimed with a large smile, “I knew you’d find someone eventually. If you don’t mind, I’d like to meet him.”

“How did you know it’s a he?” Stormwind laughed.

“You’d buy a featherband if its a mare, earrings are for colts,” Twilight said with a laugh of her own.

Stormwind’s muzzle flushed slightly as he let out another laugh, “Actually, Twilight, you’ve already met him.”

Twilight stopped in her tracks, her mind browsing to find a face. She looked back at Private Squall’s attempts to lift her luggage.

“No way!”

“Yep, I met him at the camp a year ago for basic. I thought he was cute and now we’re here,” Stormwind replied with a proud grin. Twilight laughed, giving him a soft punch to the shoulder. As the two of them continued to talk, they soon approached the carriage. Stormwind was about to yell for the private when a loud gasp came from the crowd in the station.

Twilight and Stormwind turned towards the sound only to see Private Squall try and lift all of Twilight’s luggage in one go and fail miserably as the luggage fell to the ground with a loud thud.

“I swear, that pony’s going to get himself in some serious trouble one of these days,” Stormwind grumbled as he made his way to the buried private. Stormwind tried to pull his underling out from under the heavy load, but soon shifted his efforts to removing the baggage before trying again.

“Oh, I can get those,” Twilight called from behind as she wrapped her magic around the luggage and slowly lifted the bags off the private, effortlessly placing all of them into the back of the carriage.

“Thanks, Miss Twilight, that was very kind of you,” Squall answered as he was lifted to his hooves.

“It’s no problem, Private Squall. My brother was an army captain, so I appreciate our troops a little more then the next pony,” Twilight answered as she closed the luggage hatch.

“Yes, the Captain has told me a lot about your brother, Prince Shining Armor. He’s told me how strenuous your brother made his training. I'm glad I had the Captain for mine,” Squall answered as he escorted her to the door of the carriage.

“I bet you were,” Twilight answered with a knowing smile, “Oh and Private?”

“Yes, miss Twilight?”

She pulled him close and spoke softly into his ear, ”Stormwind may seem like a different person on the job, but I can assure you he will love you until the end of time. Please don’t forget that. I also want to congratulate you for your choice in partner, He is quite the catch.”

Private Squall pulled his head back, gave a small nod and smile at Twilight’s approval. Twilight gave a small smile and sent him on his way.

“Miss Twilight, what did you say to him?” Stormwind asked as he watched Squall place his harness on. Twilight only gave him a smile as she looked forward in her seat.

They soon took off for the castle’s academy, her alma mater and one of the few places in Canterlot she had fond memories of. the flight continued over many of Canterlots points of interest, Hoity Toity’s shop, the rest of the shopping district and even Twilight’s parents home. She made a mental note to drop in and see them while she was there.

They soon made a soft landing in the center of the school grounds, and the sounds of the normal school day could be heard. Twilight’s confidence began to waver as her first foray into the world of teaching began to settle in. She swiftly made her way into the school’s main campus building, trying her hardest to not be noticed by the students. As the doors shut behind her, Twilight breathed a soft sigh in relief and turned her attention to the building itself.

The school’s interior never ceased to amaze Twilight, from the radiance of the windows to the large decorated ceilings. Even the wood used for the décor was of impeccable quality. Twilight soaked in the elegance that she knew so well and sighed heavily.

“It’s amazing what ten years will do to some ponies. I have changed so much and yet this place seems to have changed very little,” she said out loud, her thoughts an open canvas to the world.

“Indeed, it has been a while now, hasn’t it?” a voice said out loud, echoing her feelings.

Twilight spun around in the direction of the voice and was greeted by the soft smile of a pony she had grown to know well.

“Princess!” Twilight exclaimed as she quickly bowed.

“Come now, Twilight, I told you years ago you need not bow to me, you have saved not only me but this kingdom enough times to warrant the end to that practice,” Celestia said, her smile glowing in the sunlight that shone in.

“Sorry, princess, force of habit,” Twilight answered, her face flushed with red.

Princess Celestia looked upon Twilight with an amused grin, her mind reflecting on all that Twilight had done for her kingdom. But as her eyes swept up to the clock on the wall she spoke again.

“Oh dear, it’s close to dinner time. Twilight, would you care to join me for a meal in the royal dining hall? I’m sure you and I have a lot to catch up on,” she said with a grin.

Twilight was about to refuse the princess’s offer, thinking she should probably get settled before she ate. However, her stomach had other ideas as it betrayed her with a growl, and begrudgingly, Twilight accepted.

The dinner they had was quite a small affair compared to the ones she was used to at the castle. Tonight, Twilight and Celestia were joined by Luna, and the meal only consisted of a small salad for each of them with a piece of cake for dessert. But the food took a background seat to the ferocity of the conversation that ensued at the table.

“What part of Inverse Planck’s Constant times Mole squared don’t you understand?” Twilight yelled out loud as she slammed her hooves on the table, her eyes aglow with anger.

“I understood that part, but why do you need the inverse when you’re just going to square the number anyway?” Luna responded, her voice edging towards ‘Royal Canterlot Voice’ loud.

The argument had been going on for a while, as the two of them locked horns over the advancement of magic protection spell ranges and how it’s practice could be improved. Celestia sat with her legs crossed in front of her, amused at the talk that ensued. After allowing the argument to continue until the clock tolled 8, Celestia stood up from the pillow she was sitting on and spoke to them.

“Well, this has been fascinating, but I believe Luna must attend to her nightly duty of raising the moon. Twilight, we have much to discuss about your role in tomorrow's lecture, if you would kindly follow me,” she said as she locked eyes with the both of them.

Twilight and Luna’s argument ceased at that point, the embarrassment on both of their muzzles apparent. Luna gave a quick goodbye and goodnight to her sister and with a flash, teleported, leaving Twilight staring at the cake in front of her with surprise.

“Princess, when did the cake arrive?” Twilight questioned. Celestia gave a small chuckle at Twilights obliviousness, her passion for argumentation apparent. Celestia pointed her wing at the exit to the dining hall and asked Twilight to follow her to her room. Twilight could only stare as she slowly stood and began to follow Celestia's lead.

Half an hour later, The two of them arrived at the large intricately carved wooden door that lead to the princess’s quarters. With a small blast of magic, it opened to display the antiquities and embellishments that came with a long life lived. Inside the room stood a large bed, wide enough to hold the princess with her wings fully extended. A large set of older furniture decorated the empty space, each piece showing it’s age as the patina glistening in the lights of the candles. Celestia walked into her room followed closely by Twilight. The two of them sat down on the cushions she had arranged near her window.

Twilight quickly launched into her design for each lecture, outlining the numerous spells she had studied, the counter spells for all of them as well as all the applications where that counterspell could be used in modern society. Twilight began with the first years class, explaining the basics of object levitation and basic shield building. She next moved on to the next class, beginning with a small review before they began small spell deflection and fighting the ill effects of being hit by one. She move next to the advanced students, again beginning with a review but she had something special planned for that class. She told the princess of a new fire spell she had mastered and wanted to demonstrate for them.

She continued on to the final class of the day as Celestia listened intently, her smile held softly to her muzzle. She was surprised by the amount of time Twilight had spent working on this, but she knew that all of that preparation would be for nothing when she told her the actual plans for the final lecture. Twilight began this class like the others, a basic review and ill effects synopsis. She then moved on to multi spell launching and proper defensive training for that as well.

Celestia continued to listen until Twilight had finished her proposal, desperately in need to catch her breath. She waited for a few seconds to make sure Twilight was finished before she began.

“Twilight, although I am happy you have taken such initiative to come prepared for each lecture, I fear you may have over prepared for it. Your lectures throughout the week will only contain a fraction of the spells you have said, and each class will only be a hour and a half long, so we really don’t have much time for it all. I must apologize to you for all the work you think you are wasting, but I simply must keep this as basic as possible for some of my students.”

Twilight looked down at the floor, her embarrassment at over preparing had done her in again. She placed her head onto the cushion she was on and gave a small sigh. Celestia took notice and decided that her student deserved something for all the trouble she went through, and she knew just how to do it.

“Twilight, for my upper level class I not only have you speaking, but I have planned a final demonstration test for them to go through. I will be testing them on proper technique and I was hoping you would be kind enough to join me during the testing session?”

Twilight gave a tentative smile, she knew how hard her ‘demonstrations’ were, and if she had something planned for them it had to be a good one. She gave a short nod, accepting the request, but her mind kept turning over the day she had ahead of her tomorrow.

“Twilight, are you feeling ok?” Celestia asked as she looked her old student over.

“Of course, why do you ask,” Twilight answered as she wiped the sweat from her brow.

“You seem to be sweating like… well, to put it as your friend Applejack does, like a polar bear in Las Pegasus in the middle of July. You’re not nervous about tomorrow are you?” Celestia responded with a slight chuckle.

Twilight’s eyes widened, so she can see that I’m worried, she thought. Twilight was about to try and assure the princess that she was ready for it, when Celestia spoke up.

“Twilight, there is no reason to be scared. This isn’t a test. You can’t fail this time so there is no need to worry. I’ll be there watching and helping you as it goes along, so relax,” she said as she looked her student over.

Twilight’s mind became centered on her fear of the student’s laughter and the princess’s disapproval of her work. Twilight knew that this thought was completely unfounded as the princess would step in if it happened, but she still worried about it happening. Twilight knew the princess was only trying to make her feel better about tomorrow in hopes that it would allow her mind to calm down, but no time in the past had the princess’s words helped in that particular that area of thought and today was no exception.

This has to be a test, Twilight thought, she wouldn’t have brought up the test line if it wasn’t.

Twilight’s mind raced trying to figure out on what she would be graded on when the princess shook her head and sighed loudly.

“Damn it, I had hoped today would have been different but It’s still stressing you to no end isn’t it,” she said, rubbing her hooves to her forehead in defeat.

Twilight’s thoughts ran wild as she came up with all the different grading rubrics she had seen the princess use in her previous test. She thought of the requirements that she would need to cover and how she could get them in all done in the span of an hour and a half. Twilight focused on the requirements and was about to ask the princess for the test rubric so she could study it, when the princess cut her off.

“Twilight, I can read your mind,” she said with a small laugh, her head-rubbing now ceased. “To answer the question you just thought of, No, their is no test rubric for you to study. To answer the next question you're going to think of, The spell I’m using is a long forgotten thought spell that allows one pony to hear another pony’s thoughts,” she said to the now astonished Twilight.

Twilight looked her mentor over and tried to wrap her head around the idea of a mind reading spell. Her mind jumped between the mechanics of it and the power required, but her thoughts ended its barrage as one Question emerged to take over her mind singularly.

“Wait, if it was forgotten, how and why do you know it?” she asked.

“I discovered it purely by accident in the Starswirl wing of the library while I was trying to help Luna before the Nightmare Moon incident. And it wasn’t so much forgotten as it was hidden. This spell, if learned and mastered would cause endless problems for us all. Even you can see the uses for it, from cheating on tests to stealing ideas on items as well as the occasional home invasion and other types of robbery. the ramifications are something i don't want in my kingdom.” Celestia responded, stone faced at the thoughts on uses for the spell that she heard coming from Twilight.

“This is the spell I will be demonstrating on the final day of your lectures, and I wanted to let you know that I will not be monitoring your mind during the lectures. You will not be graded, there is no test and all you have to do is teach what you and I think is necessary for the age groups. Twilight don’t worry so much, it will be a great day for you. And if the students approve of you a lot, I may offer you another lecture opportunity in the future.”

Twilight sat for a second, digesting the information the princess had given her. Twilight was all for teaching the more advanced students counterspells but she had thought of simple deflection magic, not one’s directed at one’s thoughts. Twilight thought it over for a few minutes before she spoke.

“Why would you want to teach them about this? Aren't you the only one that can do this?” she asked.

Twilight knew why she had discussed this with her, she now knew that a threat to the crown was here and she would have to learn to defeat this power.

Celestia let out a tiny laugh as she picked at the ideas Twilight was circulating in her head, amused at her over thinking.

“No Twilight, I just want them to learn that not only is the external vulnerable, but the internal as well,” she answered, her laugh leaving a smile on her muzzle. “So I’m not teaching them the spell itself but how to defend against it.”

Twilight let out a small sigh of relief, knowing what the princess had planned let her relax a little. She still felt the anxiety of a test happening, but she now knew that it was just one on how to manage the spell itself. However the more she tried to focus on the lectures, the more she wondered about the spell.

“Princess, why are you using such a tough spell on your students? Have they done something wrong?”

Celestia gave another laugh as she thought over that question.

“No Twilight, they haven’t really done anything to deserve it. When you meet them, you will see why I chose that spell.”

Twilight gave her a sidelong glance, but decided not to pursue it any farther than that. Her thoughts turned to another question she had.

“Princess, are there any sort of side effects to using this spell?” she asked, her curiosity piqued.

“I won’t lie to you Twilight, it does have its risks. The longer the spell is used, the more open your mind will be to the pony you are targeting. My research has uncovered that your target won’t hear your thoughts, but they can see them as their own in some cases,” She said to Twilight, and seeing the fear in her she quickly added, “I wouldn’t worry Twilight, it won’t be a problem.”

Twilight’s fear wasn’t resolved as she wanted to know how it made them see the caster’s thoughts as their own. Could Celestia have put thoughts into her head when it was active? Would she? Twilight began to look back at their conversation, going over all she had thought. She was about to ask when the princess answered it for her.

“Like in all spells, the longer it remains active, the more of a change that something might go wrong. In the case of this spell, the possibility of a thought exchange can happen. You never stop thinking yourself when you are under the spell and somethings things can slip out. It doesn’t sound so bad to begin with, but the more you think about the idea of the exchange the more dangerous it becomes. If somepony were to use this spell specifically for that effect, no ponies thoughts would be safe. And no, Twilight, I would never do that to you.”

Although not fully satisfied with the explanation, Twilight’s mind moved away from the demonstration for fear of Celestia scolding her and she soon found herself in a relatively comfortable line of thought. Twilight soon turned the questions she had towards the lectures themselves. They spent a few hours going over what each would entail, as well as the students’ names and ages.

Twilight and Celestia talked until a loud yawn came from Twilight, signaling to the both of them that their talk should continue in the morning before the class. They both gave their good nights and Twilight made her way to the room sleepily. As Twilight lay down her head she thought only of the conversations she had that night and what awaited her tomorrow. Twilight quickly surrendered to her sleepiness and was swiftly taken to dream land.

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Twilight awoke to the sound of the alarm on her clock. She gave a large stretch and looked around the room for any signs of light. Her windows were still dark with the night and the curtains were still in their posts. Twilight’s eyes traced the lines of the furniture and slowly her eyes fell on the clock. The time read 3:17 AM, a time Twilight had never set her alarm to, ever. She swiftly looked around the bed, her eyes as wide as they could be. She turned herself over and made her way to the edge of the bed and below her lay the floor of the library back in Ponyville. A noise made its way to her and it continued to sound as Twilight rolled herself out of bed. She descended the stairs to the library and was taken aback by what she saw.

Hundreds of ponies were inside the library, many of them eating the pages out of the books. Twilight began to shout at them hysterically, but her voice never came out when she did. She ran down the rest of the stairs and began to pull the ponies off the books, she struggled and struggled until she felt herself fall over and hit the floor.

Twilight awoke as her back hit the cold floor of the castle. She quickly looked around to see if the ponies were still there, but only noticed the walls of the castle, exactly as she had seen them the night before.

“Phew, it was only a dream Twilight. Nopony would ever eat one of your books. They all know the consequences of doing that,” she said to herself as she made her way back onto the bed. She looked over at the clock on the nightstand and noticed the time. 8:46, a few hours until class time. She sat and caught her breath before making her way to the dining hall for breakfast.

Walking into the hall, she found Luna and Celestia beginning their breakfasts. Twilight gave a small good morning to them both. Luna, apparently still mad at her for last night, swiftly picked her plate up and moved it to her room.

With a small smirk from Celestia and a whimper from Twilight, The two of them passed the time before the class eating a good breakfast as well as finishing their talk about the lesson again. Celestia went over all of the lecture notes with Twilight, giving her pointers and helping her come up with good examples for each of the classes to use. Their talk continued all the way up to the door of the classroom, and as they approached, the sounds of the students laughing and talking just before their class was to start flooded their ears.

Twilight hesitated for a second, a look of apprehension on her face. Celestia turned towards her and with a smile asks her a simple question, “Ready for the first class?”

Twilight gave a halfhearted nod and Celestia opened the door, and walked in.

The room went silent when the princess entered, and quickly the shuffling of hooves and chairs took its place. They all sat at attention as the princess smiled to them all and began her speech.

“Good morning class, now as I told you last week I was going to have a guest lecturer for you all to learn from. And I have kept my word on that. Now the mare you will all meet today was my personal protégé when she attended this school 10 years ago.”

“She is currently assigned to the library in Ponyville working on her studies of friendship as well as some other magic related inquiries. She has taken some time out of her busy schedule to talk to you all and I want you all to treat her with the respect you give me. So without further ado, may I introduce Miss Twilight Sparkle,” Celestia said as she raised her hoof to the door.

Twilight entered apprehensively, her hooves shuffling so as to not fall over. She arrived next to the princess and looked to the crowd of students that sat in front of her. They all stared back at her, some in shock at her, some acknowledging her with a nod and then there were the ones that laughed as she walked in. Twilight turned her head to the princess, expecting some help. All the princess gave was a warm hearted smile and a nod of the head before she walked over to a pillow in the corner and sat down.

Twilight turned her head to look at them again and found they were all still staring at her.

“Twilight, relax, its ok to be nervous. Introduce yourself to them and talk about the lesson we talked about you doing.” Celestia smiled at Twilight, calming nerves a little, and soon she addressed the class.

“Good morning class” she began, waiting for a bombard of mean looks and snide comments. Instead she received a unanimous good morning from the class. Twilight gave a smile, turned towards the board and with a small burst of magic took a piece of chalk and wrote something down on it.

Miss Twilight Sparkle

Defensive Magic

She turned to the class and soon the lesson was under way. For the students of this class, Twilight took her explanations to a highly simplistic area, beginning on types of spells and 3 or 4 harmless spell demonstrations. These students handled the demonstrations well, one even attempted to show off a spell she thought she had learned and mastered. It of course failed for that student, leading to a class wide giggle fit. Twilight on the other hoof made it a point to thank the student for trying and scolded the class for their unscrupulous behavior.

The next class received more information about spells. She began with tactical applications as well as the beginnings of quick reaction training. Twilight was impressed by some of the ponies in this class. Those that seemed to pick up quickly what each spell did were rewarded by both Twilight and the princess with much praise and a few less homework problems to do.

The third class of the day took the next level in stride. Twilight focused more on the reaction speed of spells and soon found the class attempting rather difficult spells to cast and deflect. Again Twilight was surprised by the speed in which some of the students could pick up the skills she had set forth. However an unfortunate accident in the class left one student with a small bald spot on his flank, leading to more written problems for the whole class.

As the final class lecture approached, the lunch bell rang and the students filed out. Many of them thanking Twilight for her help in learning today and some even wished she would come back to teach again.Twilight confidence was so high she wasn’t worried at all for the next class to come in. She walked with the princess to the cafeteria and they both took a meal and sat down. Twilight noted how strangely the students reacted when they saw the princess in the cafeteria but just as quickly as she noticed it, the looks were gone. They both talked as they ate their meals and were only interrupted by a couple of students wanting to talk to Twilight.

As they walked back to the class, Twilight’s smile was barely being restrained by the contours of her face.

“She wanted my autograph, Can you believe that?” Twilight said as she bounced around the princess like she was a filly again.

“Yes Twilight, remember I was there” Celestia answered back, a little worried about her guest lecturer and her ego. She moved along the corridor, giving Twilight room to bounce around her but they soon arrived back at the classroom. Twilight made her way into the classroom swiftly, greeted the students and began her lecture with gusto.

The last lecture was for the outgoing graduates of the school and for the most part, her lecture was just a reiteration of all that they had learned. She discussed the uses of certain spell counters and mostly taught the strength of spells were the only thing one really needs to focus on after the initial determination. As the bell rang, Twilight became excited as the demonstration part of the day had arrived. Twilight gave the princess a large smile, and she made her way to the door. Celestia however, hesitated by the door.

“Is there something wrong” Twilight asked as she turned back to the princess.

“No, I just had a thought” she answered back with a smile.

“What would that be” Twilight questioned, her smile growing as well.

“Why don’t we have the demonstration outside today, it’s a nice day and I’m sure the students will enjoy it before they are all worn out.” Celestia said with a smile.

“That sounds like a great idea, it would allow for a better environment for learning as well.” Twilight added with her brilliant smile.

The two of them waited for the class to return from their sixth hour class before informing them of the venue change. They made their way outside, Twilight all the while, continued with certain sections of the lecture.

<---------------------------------Outside the Castle, near the royal garden------------------------->

Twilight’s review came to an end as they approached their destination, finishing on the importance of defensive magic and its applications in the normal world. She was finishing up on its use in the nuclear reactor maintenance field when the princess spoke up.

“Miss Sparkle, we have arrived at the training field, shall we tell the class what it is they will be learning to defend against?” Celestia said as she made her way to the front of the class.

“I think that’s a wonderful idea, princess.” Twilight answered with a small laugh as she knew what was to come next.

A large zap of magic penetrated the silence of the class as Celestia’s magic slowly lifted her from the ground and softly set her back as well. She stood there for a few seconds and let the student’s faces slowly contorted with confusion when the princess spoke loudly.

“FireBolt, that is no way to think about Hollybloom, you should be ashamed of yourself.” Celestia said, causing the young stallion to blush brightly and try to run away. The hoof that tripped him must have belonged to the aforementioned Hollybloom as the stallion went tumbling end over end until he hit one of the trees behind the class. Laughter erupted from the group as the event took place, but Celestia wouldn’t let them forget that a lesson was on.

“Starfire, why don’t you just ask him out, I’m sure he would understand. You are his friend right?” Celestia announced loudly, causing the Stallion’s head to turn and his face to light up red. The rest of the class laughed at his predicament but Celestia wasn’t having any of that.

“Flashfire I don’t know why you're laughing, and the same goes for you as well, Fallwind!” she yelled again causing the laughter to cease in an instant. They all stared at her with wide eyes, each of them now freaked out beyond what they were used to.

Twilight took this silence as an opportunity to talk to the class.

“Now class, if you don’t want to hear any more of your secrets spoken out loud, first I need to know what you think is happening here?” Twilight addressed the class, trying to hold back laughter.

The class stood silent, all of them thinking of the possible ways the princess could know about these things. They all had their ideas, but none of them wanted to say them out loud.

Sensing their hesitation, Twilight turned to Celestia with what she thought was a good idea.

“Princess, I think I need to have this spell cast on me so I can coax some of the students to talk, what do you think?” Twilight asked with a smile on her face.

What Twilight got in return was a look of worry from Celestia, a look that she never thought she would get.

“Twilight, this spell is a dangerous spell to have cast on you, I’ve told you the side effects and what may happen. Are you willing to take that risk?” Celestia asked as she eyed her former student.

“I understand the risk and I want you to know that if anything feels wrong to me I will ask you to stop it and we can continue on without me in the spell” Twilight answered, her eye’s a pure look of earnest attention.

“Well, as long as you know the risk and will tell me if anything is wrong right away, I don’t see the harm in casting it on you.” Celestia answered, and with another zap of magic Twilight began to hear voices in her head.

“Why did she ask to be attacked by the spell, she even said it was dangerous” a male voice said to her, causing twilight to laugh. Her laughter was short lived as another thought entered her mind.

“What the buck is she laughing at?” another male voice sounded off.

“Oh, what I would do to that pony.” a female voice said with a sultry flair.

“Oh Celestia, she just got struck by an attack” the first male voice though again.

“I hope I didn’t leave the stove on?” a female voice thought shortly thereafter.

Twilight’s thoughts swirled around with the cacophony of other thoughts and gave the unicorn a small headache. She gave a pained look to the princess and soon she felt the same magic as before used on her, causing the voices to cease.

“No, Princess it’s ok. It’s just a little disorienting in the beginning; I’ll be fine after I place a filter in.” Twilight yelled to her, and with a look of unease coming from the princess.

Twilight was enveloped in the spell again except this time she was ready. As soon as the first thought entered her mind, she put up her first defense, a simple word filter. The chatter in her head was dimmed slightly but the noise still hurt her head. Next Twilight expanded her filter to only questions.

This worked as much as any filter would; it let the questions in, just not ones Twilight could answer. Twilight gave it one last filter change and soon her head was clear of noise. She tested her theory to see if her filters had worked properly.

“Students, what the princess here has cast is a thought spell, it allows her and now me to hear every thought you have in your head. So I would be careful what you think about, unless you want us to hear,” Twilight said to the crowd of ponies, causing some of them to back up slowly.

“A thought spell, how can we counter that?” a male voice sounded in Twilight's mind, confirming her filters were working. She had filtered for specific questions pertaining to the spell itself.

“Twilight, I think it’s time for you to teach them the proper defense for this.” Celestia said to her as well as the class and her invasion on the students thoughts began anew. For the first few minutes, the students sat and fumbled for a way to counter the spell, but they all came up with nothing. They took the verbal abuse until Twilight looked at them all with disappointment.

“Seriously, none of you can think of anything to counter this?” Twilight asked out loud, causing some of them to think creatively. Suddenly Twilight heard the question she had been looking for in one of the student’s minds.

“Perhaps we can make a filter so the princess could only hear the thoughts we want her to?” a male voice thought loudly, giving Twilight hope. However she knew she couldn’t answer the question out loud; he had to put it into practice himself.

“It never hurts to try” Twilight thought to herself, trying to find another student with a proposed solution. Suddenly, the male voice spoke again with some information that Twilight didn’t expect.

“Did Miss Twilight confirm my suspicions?” the voice said but Twilight soon felt him place a barrier between himself and her thoughts.

“Did he just hear my thoughts?” Twilight asked herself internally, causing her a bit of unease to her actions, but she soon forgot about it as Celestia made another crack at another student and Twilight knew she had a job to do.

The class lasted for a good hour or so before most of the students grew tired of the constant spell casting, and so far none of the others had defended properly against the spell. All of them except for one. A red unicorn stallion was left standing, trying hard to defend against it. Twilight walked over to him and with a smile offered to help him out.

“Starfire, I think you have done enough today, I think it’s time we stop this spell and let you all rest. “Twilight said to him, her smile noting her tone of voice.

“No.” the stallion said as he increased his concentration on defending. Twilight’s fur bristled as she felt the magic coming off of him; to her this amount of power was frightening. Twilight tried to hear his thoughts, but found something blocking her from entering. “This must be the male voice I heard that had the filter idea, which means he thinks that all he needs is more power to keep her out. No, it’s not power but stronger filters he needs, I have to stop him.” Twilight thought to her and seeing the power level rise in him, acted quickly.

“Really, Starfire its time to power down and let this go, class is almost over” Twilight pleaded with him, knowing that the amount of magic he was using could be dangerous to him. Unfortunately for Twilight, it wasn’t only Starfire that it would hurt.

Starfire took his mind of the spell for only a brief second, but that was all it took. A brilliant flash of magic had engulfed them both and the sound deafened all those in close proximity to the blast. Celestia quickly released her magic on both her and Twilight and moved swiftly to the crater site. She found both students at the bottom, unconscious.

Celestia yelled out for some of the students to run and get the royal physician. She heard a few run off and soon she turned her attention back to Twilight and Starwind. She applied a cocoon of magic around Twilight’s and Starwind’s limp bodies and rushed them away from the group, the tears flowing from her eyes.

She was met halfway by 4 guards and the physician on staff, an older unicorn that knew what to do. As Celestia’s magic ceased, the physicians took over and another cocoon of magic wrapped itself around Twilight. The guard swiftly picked up Starfire and they soon rushed them both off to the hospital on grounds. Celestia sat and watched them take her away, the tears in her eyes flowing faster and faster. Suddenly a voice came from behind her, shaking her out of her thoughts.

“Princess, are they going to be ok?” the voice asked the tone as heavy as the air around it.

“I don’t know young one, “she answered back, her eyes following the path of the doctor’s to the hospital, “I just don’t know.”

Comments

[Silver Starlight]

Needs some more editing, maybe I could review for errors when this is done? Anyway, it seems like a good story so far.