The mage, the inventor, and the explorer

by Jonny Bench

the board of education

Once Jonny and Silver had left the garden, a small rodent like creature scurried over to the door of the tower. Seconds later, it was engulfed with dark green flames and replaced with a pony sized creature. It was a dark black and had a smooth, hard, body. It’s legs were riddled with holes of various sizes, along with it’s electric blue frill like mane and wispy tail. Something shifted on the creatures back to reveal tattered, bug-like, wings that shifted slightly, as if being stretched. A few sparks shot off of a gnarled horn on top of the creatures head, and its eyes opened up to reveal two bright blue orbs in their place. The creature steadily approached the door, not bothering to look at the plants and other entities within the garden. It moved quickly, constantly casting glances back to where the pony and strange creature had disappeared, expecting for some creature to appear at any moment.

The creature jumped in surprise at the touch of something hard before realizing it had walked muzzle first into the door by mistake. Sighing to itself in relief it tried to open the door, only to find that it refused to budge an inch. Puzzled by this, the creature tried to cast magic on the door, hoping to unlock it or move it. When the intruder enveloped the door in it’s magical grasp though, the door still wouldn’t move. As it’s frustration built, the creature decided to try and either blast the door down or the wall next to it, and cast a repairing charm on it once through. As he fired a bolt of magic at the door though, the door stood resilient and bounced the spell back at the creature. The creature was feeling drained at this point, and started to think about retreating to think about what to do next.

After deciding that it would be best to regroup and return with a plan, the creature attempted to fly off into the forest. However, it found itself unable to do so as the protective runes around the garden flared up and kept the creature trapped inside. Without the ability to escape the garden without risking being found, the being shape shifted back into a small mouse like creature and hid in the magical plants, waiting for night to come so it could escape through the celestial displacer unnoticed. The information the creature held would be of great use to it’s queen, and it smiled in delight knowing this.

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(Next Day)

Jonny rose with the sun, as many teachers do, to get ready for his students to arrive. As he was starting to head down the stairs of the tower to the ground floor to make sure the library area is clean, a knocking is heard coming from the door.

“Just a second!” Jonny shouts in reply as he hurries his way over to see who could have arrived this early in the morning.

“Hello there, how may I be of service this morning” he says as he opens the door to find a grey unicorn stallion with a black mane and goatee while wearing a purple robe. On the robe is a small badge with a hoof print and ribbon hanging off of it.

“I am Chancellor Neighsay, from the EEA and your school is not in compliance with standard EEA regulations! I am here to tell you to either make an appeal to the board of the EEA or to close your school immediately!” the newcomer barks out to Jonny

“I am aware of the fact that this school isn’t in compliance with the EEA, and would also like to point out that the curriculum I am presenting to my students is not actually covered by the EEA. since my school deals with teaching new forms of magic that have not been seen in Equestria before, there are no rules in the EEA handbook that talk about the material I have to offer and therefore there are no guidelines for me to follow. As such, there is no need for me to conform to your standard of teaching due to your lack of experience in the subject.” Jonny replies with a short speech he had prepared in advance.

“While this may be true, the students that are attending your school will be lacking in other subjects that foals their age would normally be proficient in, such as reading, math, science, foreign languages and standard equestrian magic. On top of this, you are attempting to teach magic to earth ponies and pegasi, whom are unable to use magic in the same way as unicorns!”

“While earth ponies and pegasi can’t cast spells in the same way as a unicorn, that does not put them at a disadvantage when it comes to learning and applying the magic that I am teaching here, chancellor. On top of that, everything that is taught in a normal school is incorporated into my curriculum. Science and math are both needed for deciphering the magic I teach. Alchemy is chemistry with extra steps for example, and to grow the flora that is required in the application of the magic takes a good understanding of geology and botany so that you can have a flourishing crop when it’s time to harvest. Of course, reading is easily developed through studying the books I provide and should my students need help they can easily consult either me, their parents or a dictionary. Writing is also used heavily, and their penmanship, as well as their quality of essay, shall develop easily due to the difficulty of their assignments increasing as time goes on. Lastly, there is plenty of magic that can be used to overcome language barriers, so foriegn language shouldn’t be an actual problem.”

Chancellor Neighsay’s right eye twitches and his teeth grind in frustration as Jonny explains how his school either meets the standards of the EEA or aren’t even covered by the current guidelines of the EEA at all. Once Jonny finishes his explanation, Neighsay goes silent for a second before pulling out the last card he has up his sleeve.

“The Everfree forest is a part of Equestria and as such, you must comply to the EEA regulations in order to stay in operation. All schools in Equestria require EEA certification in order to stay in operation.”

Jonny smirks, having expected this from Neighsay and counters with another prepared counter argument
“Actually Chancellor, the Everfree was excised from Equestria shortly after Princess Luna’s banishment over 1000 years ago, Celestia didn’t want to have the sight of her biggest mistake as a part of her nation. The Everfree is actually considered to be an independent nation, albeit a small one, due to the fact it has not been ruled over by anyone since the time of Luna’s Banishment. As such, after a discussion with the other inhabitants of the forest and surrounding area, we have come to the decision of establishing Princess Twilight as the ruler, and making the forest its own nation official. Therefore, you have no jurisdiction here, and no power over my students to keep them from attending school here since the town of Ponyville is actually considered to be a part of the Everfree due to how close it is to the edge of the forest. As such, there is no reason for you to have business in the area of the Everfree unless you are specifically requested to help.

Upon hearing this Chancellor Neighsay is flabbergasted, having not expected for Jonny to have a way around all of his rules and regulations. After taking a second to regain his composure, Chancellor Neighsay starts to head back towards the celestial displacer, calling to Jonny over his shoulder

“You are a clever being, I’ll give you that. Perhaps we can work on amending the EEA regulations together at some point.”

Before Jonny can respond, the chancellor disappears through the gateway and leaves the area.

“Heh, guess I managed to knock some sense into him. Hope he won’t stay this mean forever.”
He mutters to himself as he heads back into the classroom, leaving the door open behind him.

Author's Note:

been a while hasn't it. I've been meaning to come back to writing and I get sidetracked easily. gonna try to have more of this done soon. hope you all enjoy!

Comments

[Gizmo Gear]

MOAR!! xD