A Magical Storm

by StormQuill

The Pony With the Ashen Coat

Holy horseapples! It's been awhile, my greatest apologizes for the delay. Hopefully I can get the next chapter out to you delightful ponies soon, despite the nonstop awesome that is Borderlands 2 ('-_-)

Anywho, please enjoy =D

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Chapter 4

The armor-clad guardpony lead Storm away from the deafening chatter of the large gathering of students, and down one of the side hallways. The hallway, like most of the administration building, consisted of polished white marble with ornate jewel work that released a loud sound every time their hooves hit the ground. The sound started to take on a hypnotic quality as the seconds ticked on to minutes, and Storm began to wonder if he would be able to find his way out again.

Storm had just convinced himself that they couldn't still possibly be in Canterlot anymore when the hulking staff-pony came to an abrupt halt in front of a rather large door, an intricate design etched into it. The pony leading Storm opened the door and motioned for him to enter.

The room was same polished white as the rest of the building, but only small areas were visible as most of the walls were covered in portraits of unicorns, some of which Storm recognized as pictures that adorned his door, while others must have been alumni of the school. Most of the wall space that the portraits didn't cover was occupied with bookshelves, filled with tomes that Storm either didn't know or simply couldn't read due to his inability to read the odd language scrawled on the spine.

Storm looked over to the small desk on the left side of the room; it was covered in strange baubles and photographs. Behind it was one of those chairs that forced a pony to sit upright with their rear hooves resting on the ground.

Storm hated those.

Lucky enough, the seat opposite the desk was a couch that could comfortably seat a pony sitting on all four legs. Storm made his way to the couch and took a seat. The guardpony had already closed the door shortly after Storm entered, leaving him alone in the claustrophobic office.

Storm was debating getting up and reading one of the several books that graced the walls when the door to the office opened. He turned his head towards the door to see who entered, but what he saw disturbed him deeply.

At first glance, the makeup-covered unicorn mare seemed fairly normally, if somewhat over-dressed, but upon closer inspection, something seemed off. The first thing Storm noticed was her perfume and the fact that it was probably searing his eyebrows off; the smell was so strong that he wondered if the wearer's nose functioned properly. Her makeup was plastered fairly violently on her face, like a foal that got into her mother's beauty supplies, giving her an almost clown-like appearance. But what really perturbed Storm was her smile; it showed off both rows of teeth and was pulled up almost impossibly close to the sides of her face. Storm could only describe her with one word; fake.

She trotted over the chair opposite Storm and took her seat. Her horn glowed with the same sunshine color that matched her coat as she opened one of the drawers on her left and rummaged through it for a second before finally pulling out a single piece of paper and placing it on a clipboard. She then levitated a pen from a cup on the desk and placed the tip on the paper.

She turned towards Storm and spoke, her voice an octave too high to be normal.

"So, mister Quill, let's talk about that dragon."

***

Twilight had left Storm to head towards the administration under the guise of getting her schedule, which she had planned to do, but she mostly wanted to catch up with that odd filly to talk. Something about her seemed different, but Twilight couldn't quite place her hoof on it. Nothing had seemed overly strange about her, portable stage and talking dragon notwithstanding, but she couldn't shake this desire to talk with her. It reminded her of the same passion she felt when reading a book she had never read.

Just as Twilight reached for the door, she shifted her shoulders. An alarming thought rocketed through her brain. The gentle weight that had been resting on Twilight’s back had been there for hours, and over time, it faded into the background of her mind, so she hadn’t noticed that the weight vanished.

She whipped her head around and surveyed the surrounding courtyard for any signs of the purple dragon. All she could see amongst the trees and assorted foliage was a dispersing pack of procrastinating ponies. She raced through the trees, her eyes darting in all directions as her mind ran through all the horrifying scenarios her overactive imagination could concoct.

Out of breath, Twilight trotted up to a nearby tree and gently rested her side against it. Cold, hard panic griped her brain as her eyes threatened to break into tears. A soft, high-pitched voice cried out from somewhere above her.

“Twilight . . . help!”

Twilight’s head snapped upwards towards the source of the cry. Relief flooded throughout her entire body as she beheld the small purple dragon clinging to one of the tree’s branches.

Twilight could feel the trail of wetness run down her face, any anger she might have felt towards Spike for wondering off was quickly smothered by the sheer comfort of knowing that he was fine.

Twilight focused her magic through her horn and reached out towards the quivering hatchling, but before the pinkish radiance of Twilight’s magic field could envelope him, a small, black blur snatched him off the branch, circled the tree top of few times, than finally began to descend towards Twilight.

When the black form finally slowed down enough for Twilight to see it, she gasped; the shape was in fact a black-scaled dragon hatchling. The dragon was the same size as Spike, but had two webbed wings protruding from its back and a row of yellow spines running down from the top of his head to the tip of his tail.

The dragon slowly lowered Spike to the ground; as soon as his feet touched down, he took off towards Twilight, tears streaming down his face. Twilight smiled down at him, her heart doing back flips as she magically lifted the baby dragon to place him on her back. She turned back to the black dragon, but there was now a grey-coated colt standing next to him. His face was covered in sweat, and he was breathing heavily, his blue mane sticking to his face. He took a couple of quick breaths, and then spoke.

"Oh, hello there, I was wondering where Fang flew off to. I hope he wasn't causing you any trouble."

Twilight smiled and shook her head, "Not at all, in fact, he helped Spike here out of that tree." She turned towards Fang, "Thank you,"

Fang turned his head away from Twilight's beaming smile and rubbed the back of his head with a claw. The colt looked towards Fang and laughed, "Well now, looks like you're a hero, Fang," He turned back towards Twilight and raised a hoof, "My name's Eclipse, and I see you've met Fang."

Twilight took the hoof and gave it a small shake, "Nice to meet you, my name is Twilight Sparkle, and this little climber here is Spike." Twilight's eyes scanned around the courtyard. Most of the ponies had moved on the main building. "Have you gotten your schedule yet?" she asked, turning back to Eclipse.

"No, I was having a bit of trouble making it to the building." he said, blushing.

Twilight thought back to the group of ponies that had been dispersing; they were all fillies. Twilight took another look at Eclipse. He seemed nice enough, but she couldn't quite grasp what all those ponies were getting worked up about. "We should probably head to the administration building then."

By the time the four had made it to the front door, the courtyard was completely empty, and the loud clamor could be heard throughout the main entrance. As Eclipse pushed in the door, the group developed a new appreciation for the sound dampening effects of the large, glass doors. The sound that assailed their ears had Twilight convinced she was about to go deaf. It took all she had just to hear herself think.

The four of them slowly trudged their way through the enormous mass of chattering ponies, and by the time they had made it to the schedules, the ringing in Twilight's ears was starting to concern her.

On the desk marked M through Z, only one schedule remained, Twilight's. She levitated it off the desk and took a look. Her first class was "Introduction to Matter Manipulation," and it started in ten minutes. Eclipse came trotting up, schedule floating next to him, encased in a grey field, "So, what class do you have first? Mine's intro to matter manipulation, room 135."
"Me too, here, I think the class room is this way."

They made their way down one of the side corridors, pushing past ponies who were looking between their schedules and a map of the campus hanging on the wall. Most of the classroom doors were open, ponies packed together, trying to make their way in, and every so often, Twilight would catch a glimpse into some of them. Most were simply filled with rows of chairs, all facing a chalkboard at the front, but some contained odd mechanical equipment, while others contained chemistry equipment made for applying magic to already-mystic brews.

After passing a room that contained a bizarre object that could only be described as a giant frying pan, Twilight and team found the room labeled 135. Before Twilight could push it open, Eclipse took a brisk step and opened it first, holding it for her. Twilight gave him a small smile, "Thanks."

The classroom was the same white marble as the hallways. On one end was a large chalk board, the words "Intro to Matter Manipulation" written in white chalk. There were several rows of chairs, most of which were filled with ponies talking amongst themselves, but as Twilight looked around, her heart skipped a beat. She saw a collection of empty seats, and at the center, separated from the rest of the class, sat Trixie and Jade.

As soon as Twilight and Eclipse entered the room, the class fell deathly quiet. All eyes turned to glare at the newcomers, and Twilight immediately understood the situation; the other students were scared of them. Twilight trotted across the room, past the barrier of empty seats, and grabbed one next to Trixie, with Eclipse taking the one in front of her.

"Hello Trixie, Jade, it's nice to see we have the same class!" Twilight said, a smile plastered on her face.

Trixie's head shot up from her desk at the sound of the overly cheerful voice, and Twilight could have sworn that in the brief instant before she donned her confident expression, she had worn a genuine smile.

"Oh, it's you Twilight Sparkle" she said in an aloof tone, "I see you and your friend here are the only ones brave enough to sit near Trixie and her amazing, talking dragon." Jade was sitting on the corner of Trixie's desk. She gave the same awkward smile she always did when Trixie bragged about her to any who would listen.

"It's nice to see you again, Twilight, Spike." Jade said looking between Twilight and the purple dragon clutching to her rear-hooves as they hung off the seat. She then looked towards the grey pony sitting behind her, "Who is your friend here?"

Eclipse raised a hoof towards the green dragon. Jade leaned forward off the desk slightly to give it a brief shake before swiftly returning it as she began to lose balance, "Hello, my name’s Eclipse, and that little guy up there," he said, motioning with his hoof towards the ceiling, "is Fang."

Jade and Trixie looked up, the latter eliciting a small squeak as they saw the black dragon hatchling watching their entire conversation from the air.

Trixie's eyes went wide; her mouth opened and closed a few times before she finally managed to utter a stuttered word.
"w-w-w-wings!"

Just then, the door to the class was shoved open in what Twilight thought was a rather violent fashion, and a tall, somewhat lanky, stallion with a deep purple mane and a light blue coat trotted towards the desk in the front of the class. The pony turned to face the class, pushed a portion of his mane out of his face, and then began to speak.

"Hello class, I am professor Spectral Gaze, and this is Intro to Matter Manipulation," His voice was cold, sounding almost detached. He turned and levitated a piece of chalk, writing down both his name and the name of the class, he turned back around, chalk still floating in the light blue field that matched his coat.

"In this class, we will be leaning the effects that magic, both active and passive, have on inanimate objects. The class will consist of lectures and you will be tested on . . ."

Twilight had already removed one of the blank scrolls from her saddle bag, along with a quill and ink, and had begun taking notes. The professor went on for another ten minutes talking about the class, how much homework there will be, attendance policy, when suddenly, the classroom door opened yet again. A large, lightly armored pony had opened the door and was now holding it for somepony, that somepony was Storm.

***

Storm was still somewhat in a daze from the conversation he had just had with Cheery Cheeks, the school guidance counselor. When she brought up Skyfire, his mind had rushed to the worst possible scenario; they had made a mistake and were taking her away. The very notion made him break out into a cold sweat. Instead, all she wanted to talk about was her health, was she sleeping well, could she breath fire, could she talk?

After finally assuring her that Sky was fine, she just let him go. She had the armed pony escort him to his first class, and now here he was, several minutes late, with his entire class staring at him.

Great

The professor raised an inquiring eyebrow at him, "and you are?"

With all the eyes in the classroom on him, Storm could feel his cheeks reddening. He had to clear his throat once before he could speak. "My name is Storm Quill sir, sorry I'm late. The guidance counselor needed to speak with me."

Professor Gaze starred at him, and Storm began to fidget under the piercing gaze of, he looked towards the chalkboard . . . Gaze.

"Fine, take a seat somewhere."

Storm exhaled, releasing the breath he didn't know he was holding. He looked over the class to find a seat, and was met with the ice-cold eyes of his classmates. He looked over to the only ponies not currently leering at him, and immediately drew the connection. It's because of the dragons! Storm thought as he made his way over to Twilight's group.

Skyfire climbed off of Storm's back and started to play with Spike, who was trying to hide behind Twilight's tail. Storm took the seat in front of Twilight and next to whom he realized was the colt he had tried to talk to earlier.

The professor continued his introduction of the class; he talked about the basics of levitation, and by the end, Storm was starting to feel pretty bored. To the teacher’s credit, however, he was moving very fast through the subject. Storm could tell that the professor was aware how straightforward this was, and simply wanted to get it out of the way on the first day.

Trixie had apparently become very bored also, as she had leaned slightly towards Twilight to talk. Twilight had been lazily recording everything the teacher said, the quill a blur as it raced along the page, stopping only briefly to reapply ink as needed, but as soon as Trixie had gotten her attention, the quill fell to the desk, motionless.

“psst, Twilight Sparkle, is it just me or is this class painfully boring” Trixie whispered, leaning back, an exaggerated look of pain sprawled across her face.

Storm chuckled to himself. He had been finding the class easy, and if the events that transpired during the entrance exam were any indication, Twilight probably was as well.

As the professor went on about the intricacies of field construction, drawing diagrams on the chalk board, his back to the class, Trixie leaned towards Twilight again.

Storm turned slightly in his chair to better hear what Trixie had to say, and froze in utter shock. Eclipse was the first to notice Storm’s odd expression, and when he turned to see what could possibly be so bizarre, he too couldn’t speak.

Just behind Trixie’s head was a violet eye, floating in midair, its unblinking gaze seeming to pierce right through her. She seemed unaware of its presence, until finally Twilight turned to look at Trixie, and her jaw dropped. Trixie finally noticed the expressions plastered on Storm, Eclipse, and now Twilight’s faces, and followed them to the floating eye, now only a few inches from her face.

She fell back out of her chair, Jade hopping up between the floating monstrosity and her friend and eliciting an adorable gurgling sound that one might mistake for a growl.

“Trixie,” Professor Gaze’s cold, apathetic voice seemed to come from the eye itself, “Do you have something to say about the class?”

Trixie’s face flushed with red as the class filled with sound of snickering fillies and colts. Storm watched, an odd feeling of tension and bitterness filling his chest as Trixie sat on the floor, eyes clamped shut. For a second, Storm thought the powder-blue unicorn was going to burst into tears.

Storm watched as Trixie got to her hooves, took a deep breath, and cracked a sly smile. She turned to face Professor Gaze, “Well yes, actually, this was all covered in the entrance exam. There’s no way anypony could be here without having learned this already, and I came here to learn magic, not how to push a ball across a table.”

Stunned silence filled the room, followed by murmurings of agreement from the other students.

Storm was having a hard time believing what he just saw, but after a second he cracked a huge smile.

Professor Gaze starred a Trixie for the longest time, his violet eyes matching the ethereal one now floating next to him. Storm could see the initial signs of prolonged eye contact with Spectral Gaze; Trixie was starting to shake, and sweat started to pour down her face. Her confident smile had faded into a worried frown.

"Well, if the class is so easy, why don't you demonstrate to the rest of us your supposed mastery of levitation?" His face was completely devoid of inflection, as if he didn't care one way or the other that his student had disrespected him in the middle of his lecture.

Storm had to bite back a laugh has he saw the confident smile return to Trixie's face. If Gaze had hoped to embarrass Trixie, he clearly had another thing coming.

"With pleasure." Trixie turned towards the class, and with a quick wave of her horn, she covered each piece of chalk, and both erasers in a single field of magic, lifting them from their place next to the board, and lining them up in a vertical line. A few of the students clapped their hooves together, but for the most part, they were unimpressed.

Then, the field disappeared, but before the first piece of chalk hit the ground, Trixie's field reappeared and launched them all into the air. In an instant, all the objects were rocketing through the air. The classroom filled with the sound of thunderous applause, ponies banging their hooves either together or on their desks.

Finally, the slight scowl turned up slightly in the tiniest hint of a smile. “Fine" he said, his voice still colder than a Windego’s sigh, “Take your seat Trixie. Let’s learn magic.”

Comments

[the_sane_maniac]

Holy shit an update?

My prayers to tzeentch has been answered

[Darkheretic]

Very interesting can't wait for more.

Praise be to tzeentch

[reader238]

I actually really like this too bad it has been so long since an update

[Adamastos]

I'm impressed. This story is rather straight forward but with some level of mystery of what's going on for Quill and his fellow dragon hatchers being the only students to pass the small selective entrance exam.