We're the Foals Who Lived

by Maddie Koester

Chapter 10

Malfoal couldn't believe his eyes when he saw that Morning Shine and Eclipse were still at CSFGU the next day, looking tired but perfectly cheerful. Indeed, by the next morning Morning Shine and Eclipse thought that the close encounter with Leach was an excellent adventure, and they were quite keen to have another one. Little did they know, adventure was coming their way. And it was coming fast.

As the owls flooded into the Great Hall as usual, everyone's attention was caught at once by a long, thin package carried by six large screech owls. Morning Shine was just as interested as everypony else to see what was in this large parcel, and was amazed when the owls soared down and dropped it right in front of her, knocking her pancakes to the floor. They had hardly fluttered out of the way when another owl dropped a letter on top of the parcel.

Morning Shine ripped open the letter first, which was lucky, because it said:

DOTH NOT OPEN THE PARCEL AT THE TABLE. It enwheels thy new Nimbus Two Thousand, but I doth not wanteth everypony knowing thee’ve got a broomstick or they'll all wanteth one. Oak Wood will meeteth thy tonight on the Quidditch field at seven o'clock for thy first training session.

Princess Luna

Morning Shine had difficulty hiding her glee as she handed the note to Eclipse to read.

"A Nimbus Two Thousand!" Eclipse moaned enviously. "That’s not fair..."

They left the hall quickly, wanting to unwrap the broomstick in private before their first class, but halfway across the entrance hall they found the way upstairs barred by Crab and Gargoyle. Malfoal seized the package from Morning Shine and felt it.

"That's a broomstick," he said, throwing it back to Morning Shine with a mixture of jealousy and spite on his face. "You'll be in for it this time, Glimmer, first years aren't allowed them,"

Eclipse couldn't resist it.

"It's not any old broomstick," he said, "it's a Nimbus Two Thousand. What did you say you've got at home, Malfoal, a Comet Two Sixty?" Eclipse grinned at his sister. "Comets look flashy, but they're not in the same league as the Nimbus,"

"What would you know about it, Glimmer, you couldn’t even name the different brooms at the start of the year," Malfoal snapped back. "I suppose you were ‘taught’ by the Weasley twins. I bet they had to save up twig by twig!"

Before Eclipse could answer, Professor Flitwick appeared at Malfoal’s elbow.

"Not arguing, I hope, foals?" he squeaked.

"Glimmer's been sent a broomstick, Professor," said Malfoal quickly.

"Yes, yes, that's right," said Professor Flitwick, beaming at Shine. "Princess Luna told me all about the special circumstances, Glimmer. And what model is it?"

"A Nimbus Two Thousand, it is," said Morning Shine, fighting not to laugh at the look of horror on Malfoal's face. "And it's really thanks to Malfoal here that I've got it," she added.

The siblings headed upstairs, smothering their laughter at Malfoal's obvious rage and confusion.

"Well, it's true," Morning Shine giggled as they reached the top of the marble staircase, "If he hadn't stolen Nettle's Remembrall I wouldn't be on the team..."

"So I suppose you think that's a reward for breaking rules?" came an angry voice from just behind them.

Sparkling Radiance was stomping up the stairs, looking disapprovingly at the package in Shine’s aura.

"I thought you weren't speaking to us?" said Morning Shine.

"Yeah? What’s up with that?" Eclipse asked.

“I-I… UGH!” Radiance marched away with a scream of frustration.

Morning Shine had a lot of trouble keeping her mind on her lessons that day. It kept wandering up to the dormitory where her new broomstick was lying under her bed, or straying off to the Quidditch field where she'd be learning to play that night. She bolted her dinner that evening without noticing what she was eating, and then rushed upstairs with Eclipse to unwrap the Nimbus Two Thousand at last.

"Wow," Eclipse sighed, as the broomstick rolled onto Morning Shine's bedspread.

Even Morning Shine, who knew nothing about the different brooms, thought it looked wonderful. Sleek and shiny, with a mahogany handle, it had a long tail of neat, straight twigs and Nimbus Two Thousand written in gold near the top.

As seven o'clock drew nearer, Morning Shine left the castle and set off in the dusk toward the Quidditch field. Held never been inside the stadium before. Hundreds of seats were raised in stands around the field so that the spectators were high enough to see what was going on. At either end of the field were three golden poles with hoops on the end. They reminded Morning Shine of the little plastic sticks foals blew bubbles through, except that they were fifty feet high.

Too eager to fly again to wait for Wood, Morning Shine mounted her broomstick and kicked off from the ground. What a feeling - she swooped in and out of the goal posts and then sped up and down the field. The Nimbus Two Thousand turned wherever she wanted at her lightest touch.

"Hey, Glimmer, come down!" Wood called.

Oak Wood had arrived. He was carrying a large wooden crate in his aura Morning Shine landed next to him.

"Very nice," said Wood, his eyes glinting. "I see what the Princess meant... you really are a natural. I'm just going to teach you the rules this evening, then you'll be joining team practice three times a week,"

He opened the crate. Inside were four different-sized balls.

"Right," said Wood. "Now, Quidditch is easy enough to understand, even if it's not too easy to play. There are seven players on each side. Three of them are called Chasers,"

"Three Chasers," Shine repeated, as Wood took out a bright red ball about the size of a soccer ball.

"This ball's called the Quaffle," said Wood. "The Chasers throw the Quaffle to each other and try and get it through one of the hoops to score a goal. Ten points every time the Quaffle goes through one of the hoops. Follow me?"

"The Chasers throw the Quaffle and put it through the hoops to score," Morning Shine recited.

"Now, there's another player on each side who's called the Keeper - I'm Keeper for Gryffindor. I have to fly around our hoops and stop the other team from scoring," Wood explained.

"Three Chasers, one Keeper," said Morning Shine, who was determined to remember it all. "And they play with the Quaffle. Okay, got that. So what are they for?" She pointed at the three balls left inside the box.

"I'll show you now," said Wood. "Take this,"

He levitated a small club to Morning Shine, a bit like a short baseball bat.

"I'm going to show you what the Bludgers do," Wood said. "These two are the Bludgers,"

He showed Morning Shine two identical balls, jet black and slightly smaller than the red Quaffle. Morning Shine noticed that they seemed to be straining to escape the straps holding them inside the box.

"Stand back," Wood warned. He bent down and freed one of the Bludgers.

At once, the black ball rose high in the air and then pelted straight at Morning Shine's face. Morning Shine swung at it with the bat to stop it from breaking her muzzle, and sent it zigzagging away into the air - it zoomed around their heads and then shot at Wood, who used it his magic to keep it in his restraint.

"See?" Wood panted, forcing the struggling Bludger back into the crate and strapping it down safely. "The Bludgers rocket around, trying to knock players off their brooms. That's why you have two Beaters on each team - the Weasel twins are ours - it's their job to protect their side from the Bludgers and try and knock them toward the other team. So - think you've got all that?"

"Three Chasers try and score with the Quaffle; the Keeper guards the goal posts; the Beaters keep the Bludgers away from their team," Morning reeled off.

"Very good," said Wood.

"Er - have the Bludgers ever killed anyone?" Morning Shine asked, hoping she sounded offhand.

"Never at CSFGU. We've had a couple of broken jaws but nothing worse than that. Now, the last member of the team is the Seeker. That's you. And you don't have to worry about the Quaffle or the Bludgers-" Wood started

"- unless they crack my head open," Morning Shine added.

"Don't worry, the Weaslels are more than a match for the Bludgers - I mean, they're like a pair of pony Bludgers themselves,"

Wood reached into the crate and took out the fourth and last ball. Compared with the Quaffle and the Bludgers, it was tiny, about the size of a large walnut. It was bright gold and had little fluttering silver wings.

"This," said Wood, "is the Golden Snitch, and it's the most important ball of the lot. It's very hard to catch because it's so fast and difficult to see. It's the Seeker's job to catch it. You've got to weave in and out of the Chasers, Beaters, Bludgers, and Quaffle to get it before the other team's Seeker, because whichever Seeker catches the Snitch wins his team an extra hundred and fifty points, so they nearly always win. That's why Seekers get fouled so much. A game of Quidditch only ends when the Snitch is caught, so it can go on for ages - I think the record is three months, they had to keep bringing on substitutes so the players could get some sleep. Well, that's it, any questions?"

Morning Shine shook her head. She understood what she had to do all right, it was doing it that was going to be the problem.

"We won't practice with the Snitch yet," said Wood, carefully shutting it back inside the crate, "it's too dark, we might lose it. Let's try you out with a few of these."

He pulled a bag of ordinary golf balls out of his pocket and a few minutes later, he and Morning Shine were up in the air, Wood throwing the golf balls as hard as he could in every direction for Shine to catch. Morning Shine didn't miss a single one, and Wood was delighted. After half an hour, night had really fallen and they couldn't carry on.

"That Quidditch Cup'll have our name on it this year," said Wood happily as they trudged back up to the castle. "I wouldn't be surprised if you turn out better than Canter Weasel, and he could have played for England if he hadn't gone off studying in the Dragonlands,"

Perhaps it was because she was now so busy, what with Quidditch practice three evenings a week on top of all her homework, but Shine could hardly believe it when she realized that she'd already been at CSFGU two months. Her lessons, too, were becoming more and more interesting now that they had mastered the basics.

On Nightmare Night morning they woke to the delicious smell of baking pumpkin wafting through the corridors. Even better, Professor Flitwick announced in Charms that he thought they were ready to start making objects fly, something they had all been dying to try since they'd seen him make Nettle's toad zoom around the classroom. Professor Flitwick put the class into pairs to practice. Morning's partner was Mystic Flier. Eclipse was working with Sparkling Radiance. It was hard to tell what either of them were thinking. She hadn't spoken to either of them since the day Shine's broomstick had arrived.

"Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practicing!" squeaked Professor Flitwick, perched on top of his pile of books as usual. “Saying the magic words properly is very important, to - never forget Wizard Stygian, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest,"

It was very difficult. Morning Shine and Mystic said the spell, but the feather they were supposed to be sending skyward just lay on the desktop. Mystic got so impatient that he that he set his feather on fire - Shine had to put it out with a water spell.

Eclipse, at the next table, wasn't having much more luck.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" he shouted, waving his long forehooves like a windmill.

"You're saying it wrong," Radiance snapped. "It's Wing- gar -dium Levi- o -sa, make the 'gar' nice and long,"

"You do it, then, if you're so clever," Eclipse snarled.

Radiance rolled up the sleeves of her gown, ignited her horn, and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

Their feather rose off the desk and hovered about four feet above their heads.

"Oh, well done!" cried Professor Flitwick, clapping. "Everyone see here, Miss Radiance's done it!"

Eclipse was in a very bad mood by the end of the class.

On their way down to the Great Hall for the Nightmare Night feast, Morning Shine and Eclipse didn’t really feel like celebrating. Though, the hall was very festive.

A thousand live bats fluttered from the walls and ceiling while a thousand more swooped over the tables in low black clouds, making the candles in the pumpkins stutter. The feast appeared suddenly on the golden plates, as it had at the start-of-term banquet.

Morning Shine placed her head in her hooves and closed her eyes. ‘It was Nightmare Night, again.’ She thought. ‘The day I lost my parents… and now it’s happening all over again with Aunt Twilight and Uncle Flash.’

Morning Shine started tearing up when she felt two pairs of hooves wrapping around her. It was Eclipse and Radiance, they were still upset with each other, but they knew how hard it was for Morning Shine, Eclipse too. Just then Professor Mistral came sprinting into the hall.

Everypony starred as she reached Princess Celestia's chair, slumped against the table, and gasped, "Queen Chrysalis -has returned - thought you ought to know!"

She then sank to the floor in a dead faint.

There was an uproar. It took several yellow firecrackers exploding from the end of Princess's horn to bring silence.

"Prefects," she rumbled, "lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!"

Prancer was in his element.

"Follow me! Stick together, first years! No need to fear! Stay close behind me, now. Make way, first years coming through! Excuse me, I'm a prefect!"

"Not again! I don’t want this to happen again! How did she return?!" Morning Shine panicked as they climbed the stairs.

"I don’t know," mumbled Radiance.

“I’m scared,” Eclipse whispered.

They passed different groups of people hurrying in different directions. And made it to the common room. The three sat down in, and Morning shine had grown very pale. Eclipse was rocking back and forth, and Radiance had look of horror plastered on her face.

“What are we going to do?” Eclipse asked, his voice higher than normal.

“I don’t know!” Radiance said shrilly. “For once in my life I don’t know!"

“Guys! Can we all get along please?! We lost our parents, some more than once. And I’m not about to lose you two as well! We have to stick together,” Morning Shine shouted, tears streaming down her face.

Eclipse and Radicance glanced at their sister and nodded silently.

“Why did she come back? What does she want?” Eclipse muttered.

“Revenge. Revenge on us, Eclipse. We destroyed her plans banishing her to who knows where! And Radiance isn’t safe either…” Morning sated. “We need to stop her, I can’t live through this nightmare again…”

“I have a plan,” Radiance smiled. “But it’s going to be dangerous,”

“We’re listening,” Eclipse said, wanting her to go on.

“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do,” Radiance explained.

Radiance explained the plan to her siblings, there heads nodded in agreement. And Eclipse had few things to add. Morning Shine just listened, she looked out the window and could have sworn she saw a pair or bright green eyes. She blinked, but when she opened her eyes again, they were gone.

Author's Note:

Woohoo! I finally got to update this! I've been super busy lately, I've been worked harder than the Apples during Apple Bucking Season!

Comments

[Hearts warming gamer]

Malfoal couldn't believe his eyes when he saw that Morning Shine and Eclipse were still at CSFGU the next day, looking tired but perfectly cheerful. Indeed, by the next morning Harry and Ron thought that the close encounter with Leech was an excellent adventure, and they were quite keen to have another one. Little did they know, adventure was coming their way. And it was coming fast.

It's happening again.

[Hearts warming gamer]

Oak Wood had arrived. He was carrying a large wooden crate in his aura Harry landed next to him.

A second one!

[Hearts warming gamer]

Perhaps it was because she was now so busy, what with Quidditch practice three evenings a week on top of all his homework, but Shine could hardly believe it when he realized that he'd already been at CSFGU two months. Her lessons, too, were becoming more and more interesting now that they had mastered the basics.

Switching genders ok I'm done bye going to the nearest bridge

[Maddie Koester]

9338020
It's been confirmed. Harry and Ron broke a Time Turner so instead of traveling back in time they can travel to different dimensions, and change their genders to become magical talking horses!