Chapter 1: Magic? But I'm a Pegasus!

:Kenta Silvercast:

Kenta Silvercast laid on his bed, trying to embrace the warmth of its soft sheets, but not even the pillows can sway him from his despair. The last couple of days have been Tartarus for him. Where does he even begin? It all started when his dad left on some sort of mission for the Magistrate Academy Council. The MAC was the third most powerful group in Magistrum. The first being the rulers of the country: Prince Maelstrom, Prince Typhon, and Princess Gaia. The MAC acted as the council of advisors to the Princes and Princess, as well as the right-hoofed ponies of the Academy’s Arch Mage.

Kenta’s dad worked as one of the professors in the school. He wasn’t exactly a big shot, but he had enough respect in the school to be recognized as one of the leading experts in the magic of Conversion. He didn’t know much about Conversion, but Kenta knew the number one rule for it: Equivalent Exchange. It’s sort of like baking a cake. You need the exact number of the correct components needed in order to change an object to something completely different. Some confuse Conversion with Transformation magic, but the key differences was that Transformation requires little time to cast, temporary, and magic stamina from the caster as the cost of the spell. Conversion requires no magical energy to be expended, but the tradeoff is the time required to convert an object. The results are however, permanent.

Kenta didn’t know why, but magic always intrigued him. Despite being born a pegasus. Truth be told, both of his parents were unicorns. He could imagine the bit of shock his parents must have received when his wings were revealed. Still, they loved him just the same as they would have if he was a unicorn, and he gave back that love by ten folds. That love all made it worse when his mother succumbed to an illness. He was a little colt back then in kindergarten. He also remembered sobbing a lot of tears. She always told him that she didn’t like it when he cried. It made her feel sad as well. When she left the world for whatever great beyond there is, all Kenta had left in his life was his dad. His father made sure to care for him in place of his late mother. He would have given him twice the love, that is, if his dad wasn’t so busy teaching students at the Academy.

Kenta understood that he was trying very hard to support a living for the both of them at the time, but he could have at least gone to his Cloud Ball games. He worked vigorously to get into the varsity teams. Now fast forwarding into the present, Kenta was now an independent stallion living on his own. He still connected with his dad every now and then, but he found himself very busy managing the local gym. They would always meet up with each other once a month. He remembered his last contact with dad last week. He told him that he’s leaving on business for the MAC. Said it was really important and that he might not make it for this month’s visit. Kenta replied back, understanding that he won’t make it. Now one the first day of next month, he received a certain message. The letter was from the Academy his dad worked at. It surprised him greatly because he never received a letter from the school. That surprise quickly turned to despair as he read each word in the letter. Unfortunately, he memorized each word, and that’s depressing.

Dear Kenta Silvercast,

I deeply regret to inform you of the departure of your father, Harold Silvercast. He had left on a sanctioned and vital business for the Magistrate Academy Council, and had failed to return on the estimated date. We later have received a certain message a few days ago. After careful analysis of the letter, it is determined that Harold Silvercast is either MIA or deceased. We have also received a ring with the letter. We’ve confirmed that it indeed belonged to your father, and have decided that it would be best to return it to you. We are sorry for informing you of this of this grave news. We wish you the best of luck.

Signed,

The Arch Mage and the MAC

Kenta shifted underneath the covers and brought his hoof up to his face. He held his dad’s ring. It glittered in the dim light that shone through the blinds. It was his wedding ring to mom. He remembered his dad committing an oath on the death bed of his mom. He swore to never take the ring off. As his mind wandered about wedding rings, he remembered asking mom how they could wear rings if they’re too small. He learned that they actually wore them on necklaces. Normally for unicorns the rings would be worn on the horns, but mom wanted to wear it like the other pony tribes. It symbolized that the lovers’ bond together were close to their hearts, and it always will be. Mom told dad to let her keep the ring when buried, and he kept that promise on the day of her funeral. Kenta still went to her grave time to time. Kenta had planned to go today, but now he was too depressed and worried. He could practically feel his world falling apart. As he thought about where his dad could possibly be, still holding onto the hope that he could still be alive, he heard a large bang from his front door.

“Kenta! Open up!”

Don’t feel like it. Leave me to wallow in my misery, Kenta thought, not wanting to be bothered with.

“Are you okay? We haven’t seen you at the gym. We’re worried.”

Oh my Gaia. Just leave me alone!

“Kenta, if you don’t open this door I swear on Typhon’s leather wings that I’ll break it down.”

“Don’t do that! You already owed him a lot of bits!”

Go ahead! I don’t fucking care, Kenta angrily thought.

His wishes came true when he heard a sudden yelp outside his window, followed by a large crash outside his bedroom door. Fantastic, he’ll have to call Fixin to come by again. Kenta seemed to be his best customer since his doors were keen to always be broken once every week. He sarcastically wondered how on Magistrum that could of happened. Oh yeah, his friends. Well, one friend in particular. His door slammed open with a POW. He got up from the comforts of his pillow to see his two friends, Chaot Noteworthy and Lily Flowers.

His heart leapt a couple miles when his eyes spotted Lily. She was a very beautiful blue earth pony who didn't even try to look good, but she always caught his two lookers. Her sun orange mane wasn’t styled in any sort of way, but it looked fine the way she brushed it. Her ocean blue coat seemed to glimmer brightly, despite being in a lightless room. It happily reminded him of watching the stunning sunset on the ocean horizon. Her striking cutie mark was an orange lily with a few sparkles dotting around it. Her dazzling sea-green eyes made him want to dance a little happy jig.

He pretty much had a big crush on her since he could remember. He reminisced his very first day of school, which was both a bad and good day. He was late to class and apologized to the teacher for being late. The entire class laughed at him, and he didn’t like it that much. Except for that one special filly named Lily. She had that soft giggle that made his heart melt into a puddle (metaphorically of course).

chaotic Noteworthy was a unicorn and was described, at best, annoying. His messy mane was colored bright apple red. He had two different blue highlights striking down through the middle of his mane. He once talked about dying them to make it form a lightning bolt pattern, but he decided in the end that it’ll be too consistent and unoriginal. His coat was just a plain shade of orange.

Kenta had also met him around the same time he saw Lily. At the time he seemed pretty normal with his appearance, but that didn’t fool the pegasus anymore. Chaotic was, at best, the bane of average. At times he’ll act calm and quiet and stick close to the background. Carefully watching and waiting for a good moment to intervene. When he does, he gets annoyingly loud and hilariously random. He was just really... chaotic to everypony. The unicorn does have his serious moments though, which killed his entire persona. Today, however, seemed to be a mix of both worlds.

“Dude, where were you?” Chaotic demanded. “We’ve looked all over town, and frankly, I was getting bored of the search.”

“I was at home,” Kenta stated. “I didn’t feel like getting up so I stayed in bed.”

He was careful to not give out the true reason of why he stayed inside today. He didn’t want to trouble his friends, even though this was a very important issue. However, Lily had that puzzled look on her face. As if she had caught something strange in his sea of emotions.

“Are you okay Kenta? You seem sad,” Lily asked, concerned about his welfare.

Guess he wasn’t good at hiding it. He felt like denying her question. He didn’t know why, but he didn’t want to be bothered with the subject.

“Yes I’m fine Lily,” he gently assured. “I'm just really tired today.”

Lily frowned as if she wasn’t satisfied with his answer, but she stayed her tongue. Chaotic however was oblivious to the situation and threw Kenta’s covers away. He suddenly lifted Kenta out of his comfy bed and threw the poor pegasus onto his back.

“Well, whatever then. Sorry in advance, but you need some fresh air,” Chaotic casually said.

Kenta was baffled by his sudden actions. “W-what? NO! Put me down you as-"

“Not a chance Kenta,” he cut off his remark, smiling all the way like a fool. “You’re going to get really lazy if you stay in bed. This is for your own good!”

He and Kenta fought for a couple of minutes, until Chaotic came out as the victor. Kenta cursed him for his daily workout at the gym. Seriously, what kind of unicorn lifted weights without magic? Anyway, the troubling situation right now is that he’s on top and he got him pinned down. Kenta recalled how Chaotic always topped him in martial arts, and that fact irritated him a bit. The unicorn stared down at him with sky blue eyes, determined for a response.

“You're gonna give up now?" he panted. "Because I’m out of breath.”

He sounded like he was joking a bit, but his friend was looking very serious. Kenta decided to let a few moments pass to regain his breath. He reconsidered his options, and decided it was best that he got some fresh air. It’s not like the stubborn bastard will let him go anytime soon, unless he said yes.

“Okay fine,” Kenta groaned. “but can you let me wash up? I haven’t brushed my teeth yet.”

Chaotic shrugged a little. “Cool. I’ll wait outside then.”

The unicorn got off Kenta and trotted towards the door. Kenta waited until his tail disappeared around the corner. It didn’t register to him immediately, but he noticed Chaotic was wearing jeans today. Kenta immediately suspected something was weird with him today. Again. The unicorn wasn’t uncomfortable with it, but he was a late bloomer for his cutie mark. It didn’t make any sense to anypony, but for some reason, the guy's cutie mark wouldn’t reveal itself. Chaotic was pretty proficient with technology, but even that wouldn’t sway his flank to come up with a mark of a microchip. He wasn’t afraid to hide his blank flank to the public, so why is he wearing some pants to hide it now?

Kenta noticed that he was now alone in the room Lily. He turned towards her to see Lily giving him a warm smile. She was calming sitting at the foot of his bed, waiting for the two stallions to be done with the fight. She got off her haunches and walked towards the exit.

“I’ll wait outside too,” she said. “Don’t keep us for too long okay?”

“Yeah,” Kenta tiredly said.

He smiled as he watched her walk out. Even the simplest comments from her voice made him grin. He scratched his head as he walked towards the bathroom. He then turned on the faucet, and tested the waters to see if it’s too hot or cold. After he was satisfied with the temperature, he doused his face with the warm water. Finished, he took a moment to look at himself in the mirror. His wings were looking strong and powerful, and they did feel just the same as they look. He took great care to making sure they were well fit for flight each and every day. His yellow-gold eyes stared into his mirror image. The bright, vivid eyes went well with the grey coat and silver mane. His dad always did say that looking at his eyes felt like staring at golden bits in a grey storm. A sign of good luck he said.

He shifted around and saw his cutie mark. It was two yellow, angelic wings beside each other. A white, fluffy cloud hung over the two wings, letting out a flurry of snowflakes all over them. Kenta understood that the wings meant he was great at flying. His dad joked around saying that the angelic detail of the wings meant that he would be a savior. Kenta didn’t take that into serious consideration, but he was always helpful in any situation that other ponies ask of him. Snow clouds meant that he is willing to go through any tough situations. Whether it be rain, sleet, or snow. That or he was meant to work at the weather factory. That was his job on the weekends.

After brushing his teeth until they were shining pearly whites, he trotted towards the front door. But not before grabbing his favorite blue scarf and wrist watch. The watch and scarf were his birthday presents from the two friends. The wrist watch was from Chaotic. It heavily resembled one of the Pipcolt watches from the Fallout series. He really liked the game, and Chaotic thought it would be nice to build a watch from that bit of universe. The scarf was hoof-knitted by the beautiful Lily. It was very simple. It didn’t have any special patterns. It wasn’t any specific hue of blue either, but he still loved it anyway.

The two ponies were lounging around on his porch. Lily had two saddle bags on either side of her that Kenta didn’t see earlier. She must have left it outside. When they saw Kenta, they stood up and walked with him. They took usual tour around his hometown. Its name was Quelenton, a small, rural village in the country side, and it sat at the base of the mountain that held up the capital of Magistrum. It wasn’t exactly right underneath the stacks of the rocky pillar, so the town always had a healthy supply of sunlight.

After a few minutes of walking, they find themselves at the park. Lily joyfully trotted underneath the biggest tree, and brought out a picnic blanket. She placed a basket full of food and handed out sandwiches to the colts as they got themselves comfortable. He felt a little better as he munched on a watercress and cucumber sandwich, but he could still feel the sadness at the back of his heart. He pushed that depressing feeling away and gave a small grin.

“So, why the park?” Kenta asked. “I know you two didn’t drag me out of bed for a simple lunch outside.”

“Well,” Lily started. “today is a pretty good day for a small celebration. Usually parents would make a big deal out of it and throw a big party, but we’re too old for that now. I did bring cake though!”

Kenta winced a little at the word parents. He knew Lily didn’t mean to let that word out, but he stilled his tongue to prevent any mishaps out of his mouth. He thanked Prince Maelstrom that the two didn’t notice anything different about him just now. He decided to press on further about the celebration they're having.

“Go on,” he asked with anticipation.

“Well,” Chaotic said.

He got on his hind hooves and unzipped his pants. Kenta now thanked Faust that all ponies had this magical aura that around them. It hid the sight of the ponies’ . . . “royal jewels” or “hidden gardens” when they weren’t in the kinky mood. Still, it was customary and polite for Kenta and Lily to turn the other way as he undressed.

“Okay you can look now.”

Kenta turned around to see Chaotic proudly showing off his flank. On it was a cutie mark.

“You got your cutie mark?” Kenta shouted. “That’s great!”

The unicorn gave a sly grin as he circled in place, showing the other flank. His cutie mark were twin silver broad swords crossed against each other as if they were in caught in mid-battle, and a gold rimmed hourglass lied behind the two crossed weapons. The symbol of the hourglass stumped him, but the sword marks were obviously meant for a pony of combat.

“A cutie mark of two swords,” Kenta said. “Huh, I guess we know where you’re heading to now.”

Chaotic nodded victoriously. “That’s right. I’m heading to Magistrate Academy.”

He trotted around the tree and dragged out a small bolder the size of a chair. He stood up on his hind legs and planted his right hoof on the rock, giving him a hero pose. It pointed in the general direction of the Academy. It lied right on the other side of the mountain.

“Magistrate Academy,” he repeated. “Not only is it the leading school of magic in all of Magistrum, but it is also the home of the starting place for the Royal Vanguards. I’m going to take the world by storm and become the best Captain that anypony has ever seen!” He got off the rock and bucked it out of the way. Amazingly, it flew across for a few meters. “The train rides to the school are a bit expensive, so I’ll be staying at their dorms instead of here.” He acquired a small, sad smile on his face. “Unfortunately, that means I won’t be able to see you guys as often.”

“Wow,” Kenta said in awe.

He couldn’t believe that his best friend was leaving soon. They practically knew each their entire lives, and it was sad to see his best friend go.

“We’ll be sure to visit you as much as possible,” Lily assured him. “When are you leaving?”

“First thing this Saturday. I need to start choosing what to bring.”

That’s in a few days, Kenta thought. He then had a suspicious thought.

“Wait a second, I thought you can only do telekinesis magic,” Kenta reminded. “Dad told me that all unicorn applying for the exams are required to show off what magic skills they know. You can only lift stuff!”

Chaotic blushed sheepishly, and then regained his signature, sly smile.

Backing up a little bit into the past, Kenta knew that since kindergarten, his best friend didn’t go to any sort of magic school. His parents was a pegasus and an earth pony. An interesting combo of a family. They didn’t exactly live right next door to a magic school, so he had to deal with normal school. Just like any other earth ponies or pegasi on the ground. He learned telekinesis on his own, but other than that, he had no other magical spells.

“Don’t worry,” he assured. “I’ve been practicing from another unicorn out of town.”

“Again?” Lily asked. “But all those other unicorns failed you.”

Reminiscing again, Kenta remembered how the irritating stallion would take every single opportunity to learn from a passing unicorn mage of the Royal Patrols. There were other unicorns in the town, but they didn’t have the necessary skills to teach him combat magic. To make matters worse, Chaotic couldn’t learn an elemental spell to save his life. By the end of the day, either the temporary tutor had to go, or gave up screaming how he couldn’t even cast a simple, small magic missile.

“Oh ho ho,” Chaotic chuckled. “This guy was different from all the others. He wasn’t from the usual patrols that come by here. I’ll be sure to show you guys later at the exams.” He then had a quizzical and hopeful look on his face. “By the way, are you guys free on Saturday? I was kinda hoping you guys could come with me to cheer me on for my exam.”

“Of course,” Lily piped up. “We’ll be more than happy to come with you. I always wanted to see such an esteemed school. It’s all you ever talked about anyway.”

As the three ponies chatted about other stuff, Kenta noticed a blotch of a dark circle was circling around their area. He heard a rustle in the trees and looked up. What he saw caught his breath. He couldn’t really describe what it is, but it was awe inspiring. It was a fiery phoenix of a blue hue, and it's shape was constantly shifting. But it still held the familar form of an avian. It dropped a scroll that it held in his mouth onto the picnic basket, and then flew off towards the great mountain. The friends watched the bird in awe until the last of its blue plume disappeared in the distance.

“What was that all about?” Lily asked, her eyes wide open from what she had just witnessed.

“I don’t know,” Chaotic replied. He picked up the scroll and looked around it. “Kenta, it has your name on it,” he said, sounding surprised.

“Really?” Kenta took the scroll hesitantly and unveiled it from it's red ribbon.

Kenta Silvercast blah blah blah. Noticed your achievements? Cordially invited into the Magistate Academy . . . WHAT?!

“Well, what does it say?” Chaotic asked.

With a wonder in his voice, he read the letter out loud to the two curious ponies.

“Dear Kenta Silvercast,” he started. “We have noticed you have completed a great many number of achievements in the past few years. We have decided that you would be a welcoming rank to our school. Therefore, you are cordially invited into the wondrous world of Magistate Academy. Should you choose to circle YES, flying transportation shall arrive shortly after to take you to the school. They shall give you enough time to pack, and we’ll be happy to see you soon. Signed, the Arch Mage’s Advisor – Marilyn Maneroe.”

Kenta looked up from the letter to see his two friends’ mouths open wide. Their jaws were metaphorically dropped to the ground.

“WHAT?!”

Chapter 2: Magistrate's Representative

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:Kenta Silvercast:

“I don’t get it,” Chaotic muttered.

The unicorn was pacing back and forth across the lawn. Clearly, the letter of notification unnerved the usually cheerful stallion. Kenta could understand that. Many unicorns like him were itching to be hoof picked by Prince Maelstrom himself. To be in the next generation of Magistrum’s proud legion of Vanguards was a great honor. Many unicorns in the country had a proud legacy in that line of work. Chaotic’s father for one had fought for the country, and his father before him. Right now it was the little bundle of chaos’ turn to uphold that tradition, but the tests were extremely difficult from what Kenta heard.

The tests involved were randomized each year. It could be a series of challenging obstacles for one year, and a huge battle royale with the peers in the next. That was of course, for those who were looking to be Vanguards though. Kenta was obviously not picked to be a part of this year’s batch of soldiers. Surely, the letter would have mentioned something about him being picked for combat training. Still, Kenta could see the green fire in his best friend’s eyes. Chaotic was, with no doubt, extremely jealous.

“I don’t either,” Kenta agreed. “Why would I be chosen for a student of magic? I’m a pegasus, with a pair of wings no doubt.”

Chaotic stopped pacing for a while and regained a bit of his composure. “I don’t know. Did it say anything about being in the Royal Guard?”

Kenta could see his eyes praying for him to say no. “No.”

The burning light in the unicorn’s eyes dimmed. He let out a sigh of relief and plopped down on the grass next to Kenta.

“Wow,” he chuckled. “I almost got a little dramatic there. Not that I am of course,” he quickly added.

Kenta smiled a bit. “You were going to be angry if I was chosen to be in the Shieldium huh?”

Chaotic sheepishly smiled. “You sure know me well huh? I guess I would be a little envious. I mean, the situation is already awkward, but either way I wouldn’t hold a grudge against you.” He tapped his chin little as he got into a pondering look. “Although, I can't wrap my head around this. Why would a school of magic be inducting you into a school for unicorns. Didn't they get the memo about you being a pegasus?”

Kenta shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Guys!” Lily interrupted. “This is serious! There is definitely something up. This is obviously the first time a pegasus has been accepted into Magistrate Academy.” She shot Kenta an accusing look, striped with concern. “Is there something you’re not telling us? You’ve been looking very worried for the past few hours.”

“Huh? What are you talking about Lils?” Chaotic called her by her pet name.

“You don’t get it,” Lily questioned him. “He’d locked himself inside his house for the entire morning on a work day. You’re normally very dedicated to your work, Kenta.” She replaced the rest of her accusing features with more concern. “If something is really wrong, you should tell us.”

Kenta sweated a ton of beads. He tried to shake off the question by shaking his head a little. “Nope, nothing’s wrong Lily!”

“Are you sure?” Lily worried.

“Yes! Everything is fine!” Kenta assured as he looked the other way to avoid her gaze.

Kenta felt magic surround him as Chaotic quickly turned his head towards her. He made sure to adjust the angle so that Kenta’s eyes had nowhere to look except her deep sea-green eyes. She looked like she was truly worried for his very wellbeing. He could feel her putting all her effort and energy into pleading the truth out of him. This kept on until Kenta gave up.

“Alright! I’ll tell you!” he resigned.

Lily smiled softly, and Chaotic gave him a nod of approval.

Kenta rubbed the back of his neck as he released him from his magic.

“Jeez. You could of went a bit easier on my neck,” he complained.

“Sorry,” Chaotic apologized.

Kenta took a deep breath as he recounted his dreadful morning. He talked about how he received a letter earlier today. How it busted from a burst of blue fire above his bed. He told about his father’s disappearance, the secret assignment he was on, and how anxious he felt. All the way up until the moment his friends arrived on the scene. When he was done, Chaotic was looking very grave while Lily was trying to hold back her tears. She failed in the end. Lily suddenly grabbed Kenta, and held him close to her chest. His face grew red as he could feel her heart beating fast with each passing second

“I’m sorry that this had to happen,” she wept. “Your dad was awesome.”

“Oh come on Lily,” Kenta said, acting like he wasn't all downed by his dad's disapperence. He didn’t like it when Lily cried. “It wasn’t like it was your fault or anything.”

“I know, but still!”

She let go of Kenta, allowing him some breath space. He backed away to see her face. He was shocked when he was greeted with a torrent of water running down from her eyes. Normally, Lily was a very strong mare. She didn’t show any tears in all the years he had known her. The earth pony wasn’t as physically strong like Chaotic or Kenta, but she was mentally powerful when bullies picked on them. She didn’t back down from any of their nasty jeers and insults. No matter what they said, she pulled on through with her own strong words until they left the three alone. It was one of the very reasons she was very popular in school back then. Everypony admired her strength. Even the bullies respected her. Now they were in their twenties and all grown up. Yet right now, she was shedding rivers of tears for his sake. She sniffed a little as she wiped the fresh tears from her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” she cried. “I got a bit too emotional.”

Kenta couldn’t form a proper response. He felt like he should say something comforting to her. Instead he asked what was a stupid question.

“Why do you care so much? It’s not like your dad was the one that disappeared.” He then regreted asking.

However, she didn't seemed to be bothered by it.

Lily looked at him with great sorrow. “I know, that’s why I can’t imagine how much pain you must be going through. I mean you lost your mom already, and now your dad is missing!”

The back of his mind winced as she brought up the touchy subject.

She was now drawing circles in the ground, looking what seemed to be shy for the first time. “I-I mean, you weren’t crying. You’re holding back all that sadness. That’s why I thought it was good to cry for you.” She stared at him in the eyes with great anxiety. “I can’t imagine how painful it must be for you.”

The pegasus blinked at this surprising news. He could feel the salty tears coming up again from the corners of his eyes. Lily noticed this and gently wiped the drop away.

“Please,” she chided. “Let it all out. I don’t want to see you holding back your emotions. It’s not healthy.”

Lily allowed Kenta to rest his head upon her shoulder. He silently sobbed as his mind distressed on where his father could possibly be. He couldn’t believe how many tears he held back this entire time. It felt like he was dripping waterfalls of unhappiness. Yet at the same time, it felt heart warming as well, knowing he was next to her.

Chaotic watched the entire scene unfold. He was getting a tad bit uncomfortable, so he decided to read the letter. Looking over the pamphlet, he confirmed that it was indeed from the Magistrate Academy. It had the official stamp and everything that looked legit. The Marilyn Maneroe signature seemed a bit questionable, after all the identity of the Arch Mage and his Advisor was all but rumors. Marilyn Maneroe being the Arch Mage’s assistant seemed too far fetch. She was a well known celebrity for Typhon’s sake! Sure she was a unicorn and was also retired, but would the occupation of the Advisor be the appropriate choice to spend the rest of her life in?

The chaotic unicorn shrugged this idea off. He’ll find out sooner or later. Prince Maelstrom announced a few weeks back that the Arch Mage and his Advisor would reveal themselves by the start of the Academy semester. That just so happened to be next week on Monday. His exam was two days from now on Saturday so...

Chaotic drifted the letter and a quill next to Kenta. When the pegaus was finished releasing his tears, he looked over and was surprised at the two items floating. Chaotic gave him a very serious stare.

“If we have any chances of finding your father, you should accept the invitation,” Chaotic reasoned. “If anypony had any clue about your dad’s whereabouts, it’s the guys up at the academy.”

Kenta sniffed a bit. “We?”

Chaotic sincerely smiled. He had a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. “Yeah. We. I mean you aren’t going to leave me hanging are you?”

For what seemed to be the first time today, Kenta felt like giving a real grin. He offered a hoof for a rough hoofshake. Chaotic took it with glee, and they both held a tight grip on each other’s hoof.

“You better have my back, Chaotic,” Kenta smirked.

“Back at you.”

Lily smiled a bit as Kenta circled YES on the paper. The letter burst into bright blue flames. The glittering smoke trailed towards the mountains, where the academy resided. Lily sniffed and hugged him again. Kenta felt his face grow warm and red as her warm hug enveloped him. He could feel her heartbeat again as she tightened her embrace.

“Be sure to write back,” she said with approval in her tone. “I want to know everything of what you two are up to.”

Kenta, already feeling closer to her than ever before, returned the favor with a quick squeeze of his own.

“Don’t worry,” he assured. “We won’t forget.”

Lily smirked a little at him as she released Kenta from her hold. “You better not. You two are leaving a girl all alone in a small town. It’ll sure be boring without the two of you around.”

“But what if we were in the middle of some crisis?” Chaotic teased.

Lily gave him a playful glare. He shrank back a little with a little white flag of surrender, submitting to her long gaze. Lily then smiled, and turned her attention back to Kenta.

“We should help you pack up for anything you’ll need.” She brought out another sandwich. “But first let’s finish lunch. I’m hungry.”

After a few bites, the three quickly headed off to Kenta’s house. They went around the room, gathering anything that could be of any use to Kenta while he was there. His dad’s old spell books, extra scarves, a top hat and tie for those special occasions, soap, anything that a dorm student may carry. They stuffed it all in a saddlebag meant for traveling. After freshening up a bit, they went out the doors and looked to the skies.

A tiny dot was forming in the white clouds. Kenta squinted a little for a better look. He could actually see it was a chariot flown by a pair of Royal Guard pegasi. Their signature golden armor was very distinguishable in the blue air. Their armors' surface sparkled in the atmosphere, giving off the same amount of glow as Celestia’s sun did. He shouldn’t be surprised. He heard that Equestria’s ruler, the leader of the Magistrate’s sister country, designed it herself.

The chariot swooped down to land, causing a cloud of dust to billow around the chariot. The ponies around the vicinity peered over their shoulders to see what was going on. Some of the more curious foals got up closer for a better look, only to have their parents hold them back. The two fliers spread their wings and started flapping. As the dust cleared up from the Royal Guard’s wings, Kenta got a good view of the passenger.

He certainly got his breath taken away. The rider inside was, in small terms, beautiful. Her dark mane flowed down her sides like a stream of water, which complemented her lavender coat. The inner depths of her bright, red eyes seemed to captivate his own. He felt like he should bow down to her like the royalty she seemed to be. He closed his eyes and shook his head to rid the confusing thoughts in his mind. As he pushed the thoughts away, he opened his eyes again to see the beautiful mare step down from the chariot.

What he saw next caught him off guard. Her hooves were actually in the form of very sharp, draconic claws. They were polished quite enough to look like beautiful pearls. Her left limb had a bunch of dark and sinister tattoos inscribed upon them. They seemed to shift around as she walked. She also donned a pair of great, leathery wings. They were the same shade of color as her fur coat. What seemed to be the finisher was her sleek tail. It wasn’t a regular tail of a pony; it was one of a dragon. The purple, scaly extension had a line of pink, feathery mane on top, lining down from the base to the very tip.

Kenta read about her kind before, but he thought they were just a silly myth. However, it seemed life had slapped him in the face with living proof. Proof that was standing right before him. She was a kirin: a dragon pony! She spread her vicious wings far apart, making her look larger than the she appeared to be. A majestic enterance. She gave them an open smile, showing off her carnivorous teeth.

“Hello Kenta. My name is Tina, and I’ll be your escort to Magistrate Academy.”

Chapter 3: By a Golem's Fall

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:Kenta Silvercast:

To a group of highly esteemed nobles, it might have been a palace they were looking at. To a crowd of commoners, it might have been the house of a god. Either way, Magistrate Academy was very pleasing to Kenta’s eyes. The towers were soaring high towards the sky, as if it wanted to reach out and touch the clouds. The smooth walls were decorated with an assorted mixture of flags, and a watery moat surrounded the place, making the massive gate the only entry point for future students of the academy. Kenta could understand why his best friend would like to go here, and why he had a jealous look on his face when he boarded onto the chariot.

Tina was already making her way to the academy, slowing down only to wait for the grey pegasus to catch up. As he trotted over the bridge, he noticed that it was very worn out. Probably from all the ponies that walked over it in the past century, but for some reason the bridge still offered the fresh scent of a newly cut tree. It gave the pegasus the sensation of being deep in a forest, with the pines and saps filling his nostrils with their sweet smelling aroma. The nature of the bridge’s fresh smell pushed Kenta’s interest a bit, making it lean towards curiosity.

“What’s with this bridge?” Kenta asked.

The lavender kirin didn’t bother to give him a look. “Whatever do you mean?”

Kenta stopped for a moment to tap the bridge beneath him. “I mean, it still smells fresh.”

“Oh that. It’s simply the affects of the preservation spell on the tree it was born from. The enchantment allows the tree to never age at all, thus it still holds the prime scent of a young tree. It can still be sliced, diced, and let to rot, but it will never give up its original smell. Such is the power of magic.” Tina continued towards the academy. “We should hurry. You have much to learn about the school.”

What Kenta had heard left in surprised. He knew magic was powerful, but this was something else. However, he couldn’t help but feel that her heart wasn’t really into it. If there was one word he could place his hoof on, it was that she was being distant from him.

“Excuse me?” Tina turned around. “Did I do something wrong? You don’t seem very comfortable with me.”

Tina shook her head. “What? No no. I feel very comfortable with you. It’s just that… I don’t understand why you’re here. Why on earth would they let a pegasus into a school specifically designed for unicorns? No offense, but you’re not exactly made for the higher degree of arcane magic.”

“None taken.”

All that accomplished however was adding more questions to his already huge pile of questions, and it confused him more than a bit. Why on earth would a high class of council members consider him to be a worthy addition to their school? Surely the idea of a pegasus in a school of magic was absurd. Before his train of thought could reach the station, it was halted when the lavender kirin suddenly turned around, flashing her pointed teeth with a brilliant smile.

“We’re here, Kenta,” she joyfully announced. “Welcome to Magistrate Academy!”

The courtyard of the school was absolutely gorgeous. The walls that bordered the courtyard were covered in exotic flowers and vines. One side of the court had a glistening waterfall that filled up a huge basin. The surface of the pool was hosting a party of lotuses and lily pads, all of them floating freely in the water. Bushels of strange and colorful plant life surrounded the edges of the pool, encasing it with their lustrous beauty. Lily would have loved to be here. He should take her here. She would probably spend countless hours studying the flowers. Also, the thought of the two of them together at the pool was very heartwarming.

The rest of the courtyard nostalgically reminded him of a park. In the center stood a massive tree, rooted there as if it was the one place where the tree was meant to be, providing an ample amount of shade for anypony to rest under in the shaded grass. Stone benches and tables dotted across the yard, letting the various scholars and students of the school to sit on. The ponies themselves, all of them unicorns, chatted immensely with each other, talking about various subjects.

Probably about magic, Kenta desolately thought. A pegasus like him could never relate to the unicorn tribe.

Tina noticed the huff of solitude he let out, and gave him a sympathetic smile. “Don’t worry about the others. I’m sure you’ll do just fine here.”

Kenta didn’t feel uplifted, but he appreciated the thought. “Thanks Tina.” They walked on towards another huge doorway. Most of the doors here seemed to be inspired by the Marey Potter films, he thought. As they approached the door, another question came to his mind. “Just wondering, but why are you here for?”

Tina looked the other way, her shifty eyes looking anywhere but him. “Oh, I’m just here to brush up on my magic. I’m having a lot of difficulty with it.”

The pegasus tilted his head a little and frowned. The way she said that was suspicious, and it felt like she was telling half of a truth. Kenta decided to not prod about it though. She probably had a lot on her mind, and he didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable. He decided it was for the best to change the subject a little bit.

“Oh… how long have you been here?”

Tina turned back towards him to answer, but unfortunately it seemed life had other plans for the grey pegasus. That is, they were plans designed to mess his day up.

“Hey! You there!” Kenta looked over to the source of the shouting, and furrowed his eyebrows at an obvious source of trouble for him.

A trio of unicorns was making a beeline for him, strutting along as if they were nobles of high stature. Their leader was a green coated stallion about as tall as Kenta was, and had smug glint in his blood red eyes. His blond mane was swept backwards and looked as if it just had a jar of gel dumped all over it, giving it an irritatingly glossy look. He was dressed down in expensive looking clothing, as if his parents had taken up all their bits and threw it all at their son. The black suit and red ascot was obvious enough.

Along side of him were identical colts with mischievous eyes. They both had snow white coats and red manes, with both of their manes ruffled like a pile of dry hay. If somepony were to take a bucket of red paint and dump it all over the said hay. Their green eyes stared at him, as if they were already planning his humiliating demise. If there was one thing for sure that Kenta knew about them, it was that they were not here to make friends with him.

“So, you’re the pegasus that I’ve been hearing so much about huh?” the green unicorn smirked. “You sure don’t look that impressive.”

“Nope! Not impressive,” One of the colts piped up.

“Boring!” the other added.

Oh great. They had the creepy-twins-are-repeating-each-other persona. That's going to be irritating. Kenta already didn’t like them before they spoke, and he was now starting to downright despise them.

“Hey, just because I’m a pegasus doesn't mean you can push me around.”

The leader of the bunch started to pull up a scared look. “Ooh! Watch out everypony! We got a badass over here!” He started bowling over his knees and hollered in laughter. “What do you think you are? Some special somepony who thinks you can waltz in here like you own the place. So what are you? Some sort of secret alicorn with an invisible horn? Is that why they let you in here?”

Kenta was feeling his ears burning in red anger, tinged with a little embarrassment. He could feel his earlier confidence fading. “N- No… I was just invited to attend the school.”

Some of ponies who were paying attention to the rukus started to snicker a little. Others were just shaking their head in disapproval, as if to say: What a bunch of idiots. The amount of ponies who were sympathizing with him though was very small in comparison with the ones that are obviously laughing at Kenta. Meanwhile, a certain kirin was looking very angry.

“What do you think you’re doing to my friend, cretin?” she snarled.

The green unicorn stopped his fun and started to size her up. In comparison, he was a bit taller than her. “Oh, and what’s this? The nopony has got a freak for a friend! What are you, a dragon, a pony, or just a lizard?”

Tina deeply growled, baring her razor sharp rows of teeth. “Watch your language. You have no idea who you’re dealing with.”

“Oh, a fight then?” he smirked. “Well bring it on then!”

At the word fight, every pony around started to form a circle around the five, and chanted on for a brawl. Kenta nervously looked around, hoping that he doesn’t have to please all of them. Unfortunately, it looked like it was starting to become that way, seeing how their audience was growing by the second, and they were getting riled up. This was turning out to be one of those old fashion school tussles, except he was about to get caught up between three obviously skilled unicorns and one vicious kirin who appeared to be on a dangerous verge of blood lust.

Honestly, he felt like he should stand his grounds against the jerks, but he also felt like hiding in a hole. The sight of the furious kirin was more than enough to give Kenta the impression that she wouldn’t hesitate to tear through his wings if he got in her way. It was a mixture of feelings and choices in his head, making his hooves a bit fidgety, but one of them was obvious. It was too late to back out now. They’re going to have to fight.

Tina immediately made the first move by leaping towards the green unicorn, baring her claws and teeth at him like a vicious dragon. He tried to avoid her by side stepping the attack, but he wasn’t fast enough and he received a huge RIP in his suit. Her claws though hadn’t gone deep enough to draw blood, but this was more than enough to bring out an angry expression from the stallion.

“That was my best suit! You’ll pay for that, you lizard!”

With an angry snort, he unleashed an outburst of magic from his horn at the plants. Kenta watched in awe as the plants started to visibly shiver. The vegetation seemed to have responded to the magic, because right now a bunch of thorny vines were shooting towards Tina’s direction…

And me!

Kenta didn’t waste any time making a break for it. He didn’t know how, but he is somehow out running the plants. Then again, they were just plants. How fast can something that doesn’t usually move go¬- never mind. His hooves were tangled up. He let out a small yelp as the vines brought him up near the ceiling. The damn things almost smashed his head against it. Thankful, they stopped. Unthankfully, they started to curl upward in preparation to slam him to the ground.

Kenta struggled with his grey wings to escape the vines’ clutches, but it seemed to be coming to no avail. The vine started to smash downwards with the intent to break every single bone in his body, and that’s not good for him. Things were looking very grim in his future. With a final push of effort, he managed to free both of his wings from the grip. He flapped in desperation, hoping to slow down the vines’ progress. Every single beat the thrusts his wings produced were powerful and quick, slowly pulling him out of the damn slithery vines’ hold.

At the same time, a powerful gust of cold wind was blowing through the courtyard and was piercing through the small battlefield, making the three unicorns lose their balance. Kenta didn’t notice this however cause he was rather busy trying to not die. The green stallion lost his concentration as another broom of air swept underneath his hooves, causing him to fall to the ground in a comical fashion.

Kenta could then feel the vines suddenly loosening their grip on him. He wasn’t one to not take advantages such as these, so he gratefully pushed the vines off of him and flew out of their reach should they come alive again. Tina was tearing up the ones that caught her claws, biting and ripping through their green bodies like a savage warrior.

“Stupid plants,” she scowled. “Is that the best you got?!”

“S- Shut up!” The green stallion scrambled onto his hooves in an undignified manner, with his two lackeys helping him up. “I’ll make sure you two rue the day you’ve messed with a master floramancer!”

The furious unicorn started to cast another spell, his eyes glowing dangerously red as he caught the vines under his spell again. This time, they were joining together, forming into a monstrous composition, growing huge arms and legs. Whatever the plant guy was creating, it was anything but good. Kenta was itching to scram out of there, but he couldn’t leave Tina all by herself against that thing! Gods, he was feeling like such a coward now, but who wouldn’t when a tangled mass of plants were forming into something big and scary?

“Tina,” Kenta tried to swallow down his whimper. “any idea how we could fight that thing?”

Tina growled a little under her breath. “Well, I was considering the Slashing and Tearing method, but I’m not sure if it’ll work well against a golem. I have to say though. This guy knows how to make an impressive body guard.”

Sure enough, Tina was correct about the golem being impressive. Now completed, the golem was colossal in comparison with him. It towered over him with its hulking stature. The strong legs reminded him of the wooden trunks that old trees would have. All rough and covered in moss. Its arms were a twisted tendril of branches wrapped around each other, probably capable of breaking bones. It had no visible eyes, but its earthly torso seemed to serve as the head piece of the body.

To shorten it all up: it was big, strong, and doesn’t look friendly. The mean floramancer had a dirty smug look on his face as he cackled. Things were looking up to him, and Tina didn’t look very confident now. Kenta was now sure that if nopony were to save them in the next few moments, he’ll being receiving a generous one way trip to the nurse’s office.

“Hey! Watch out!”

Kenta blinked his as Tina suddenly shouted at him. He turned his focus from the impending doom scenario to the golem swinging its arm down towards him. He swore loudly as he switched into high gear, dodging towards the left as he narrowly avoided the crushing blow. Tina quickly flew up into the air. The creature didn’t sound all too happy as its body shivered with a loud rumble. It thrust an arm towards Tina, rapidly extending its wooden arms as the branches grew vines.

Tina quickly dove towards the golem, scarcely veering away from the vines’ reach. She quickly circled around the golem, confusing it into a dizzy state.

“No, you fool! Get her! Grab her! Pound her to the ground! Do something,” The green unicorn ordered, his voice gradually turning into a scream.

Kenta was hesitant, but he can’t look like a loser on the first day. It was scary, knowing that what he was going to do is crazy, but he knows that if he were to run, Chaotic would never let him hear the end of it. He fanned his grey wings apart in a crouching pose. He built up power in the joint of his hooves, prepping his wings for a dash. When enough muscle was ready at his command, he waited for an opportunity when the golem seems really distracted, when Tina successfully gets it to wobble.

When the moment came he kicked his legs off the ground and charged forward, his wings spread far apart as he glided just inches off the ground. He sensed a boost of extremely cold air supporting his flight, making him go even faster. He had no idea where the draft came from, but it was helping him go even faster. He strangely felt… alive, free, and stronger than he ever was before in his life. Kenta allowed himself a small smile before pushing his wings to the max, flying towards the beast at high velocity. Like a lightning bolt through the storm.

He braced his hooves in front of his face so he could avoid getting a bloodied nose. After a few quick seconds, his hard tackle had finally connected with the hulking golem. He could hear a deafening crack coming from its wooden body as he fiercely tackled the titan to the ground with all his might. Tina quickly noticed the change of flow in the battle, and swept her wings through the air as she jetted upwards, narrowly avoiding the crash.

When the golem collided to the ground, it seemed to have finally given up. It gave out one final low cry, before crumbling into a pile of dead leaves and dirt. The crowd was silent as stone, until one pony started to stomp on the ground. Soon afterwards, the number of ponies stomping increased into a raging roar. Kenta at first thought they were displeased by the golem’s defeat, but he soon realized they weren’t jeering at him. They were cheering for him!

“Holy Maelstrom,” Tina said, her eyes glinting with new respect. She glided down next to Kenta, giving him a shoulder bump. “That was amazing! For a second, I thought you were just some whelp, but you’re pretty remarkable.”

Kenta held his breath a little as Tina complimented him. She was right! What he did was tremendous. He felt pretty proud of himself. He liked the praise he was being spoiled on. That pride was quickly dashed away when a shrill shout came from the bully. He forgot the green unicorn and his two attendants were still here.

“You’re going to pay for that you feather brain,” he swore. “I will make sure you get expelled!”

“Try us,” Tina dared him, readying her wings for another possible clash.

The tired green unicorn scoffed off her remark and charged up his horn again, straining to regain control over the pile of dirt that used to be animate. This time, the two colts were seemingly aiding him in his magic as well. The crowd cried out against the green unicorn, booing at his stubborn continuation and cheering for Kenta to beat his flank again.

Kenta nervously chuckled a little at the new found admiration he was receiving. He liked it, but he didn’t want to have to go through the ordeal of tackling another golem. His shoulders felt very sore from the strike he dealt, and he felt like he couldn’t go another round. When it seemed that all Tatarus would break loose, a loud voice had pierce through the tension, demanding for the chaos to settle down.

“What in the name of Gaia is going on here?”

The gaggle of ponies in the mass quickly died as the newcomer’s voice boomed. The sea of mares and stallions parted, revealing a wizened unicorn and his younger companion walking towards them. The old horse had a coat that was dark as the earth, as if the color in his coat had gone through a large downpour. His mane had a creamy yellow sheen to it, but it seemed to be aging into a paler white. His body was covered in a dark blue robe, shielding all the way to his hooves. Only his forehooves seem to be visible for the sake of movement. His wrinkled eyes had a wise aspect to them as Kenta stared into them. He can’t seem to look away from them. The old stallion wasn’t aggressive in any way, but he felt like he should be giving the guy his undivided attention.

“You,” his deep voice pulsated throughout Kenta’s spine. “Are you Kenta Silvercast?”

Kenta swallowed a gulp. “Y- Yes sir.”

The old pony stared at him intently. He probably didn’t mean it, but his glare was somewhat making Kenta feel ashamed of himself. It was as if he was receiving a scolding from a teacher who was disappointed in him. A teacher he very much respected. Heck, the stallion probably was a teacher. The majestic robes themselves were a dead giveaway.

“Tell me. Can you please explain what happened here?” the old stallion asked.

The green unicorn stammered, his companions looking nervous as well. “W- Well sir, as you can see. This impertinent pegasus has interrupted the harmony in this beautiful courtyard an-“

“Silence,” the elderly pony said with clear authority. “I did not ask for your opinion. Now, let Kenta finish his story.”

The green unicorn shrunk back in defeat, sulking in a small puddle of disgrace. The elder turned back towards Kenta, his strict eyes slowly warming up a little. “Go on now. Tell us what happened.”

Kenta began to tell the story, making sure to stick the truth and not his opinions. About how the unicorn had attacked him and his friend with a barrage of insults, and how they actually ended up being assaulted by his magic. He was sure that the elder wasn’t looking for a sob story. Not that it matters though. With each word that he said, the elder was giving the green youth a stern look that increased in intensity.

Kenta didn’t notice, but the young, yellow mare that accompanied the elder seemed to have been staring at him. Not like the I’m staring at you because you’re telling me something stare, but like a You’re quite something else stare.

He didn’t feel hotly embarrassed under her stare. He somehow knew that she wasn’t interested in him, but something inside of him felt a bit nervous as she fixated her blue eyes on him, pausing the gaze every once in a while to brush her blue locks of hair away from her eyes. It was as if she was scanning his body for any signs of muscle movement, or twitches. As if… she was anticipating his next move.

“Hmm, I see.” The brown unicorn turned towards the crowd. “Does his statement stand true?”

“Yes.”

“Very well then. Herbthorns!” The green unicorn and the colts cowered a little. “You three are to come with me. We shall discuss the terms of your retribution.”

“Wh- What? Professor Lightkin, you can’t be serious! These ruffians deserve to go the dungeon! Look at the mess they’ve made.”

“Yeah,” one of the colts squeaked. “They made the mess!”

“Dirty dirty mess!”

The old stallion known as Professor Lightkin raised an eyebrow towards the green unicorn. “You mean the mess you’ve created in the beginning, Markus Herbthorn?”

The green jerk winced a little as he sharply inhaled through his teeth. “Umm… yes?”

Markus and his companions yelped a little as Professor Lightkin raised them up in the air. He turned towards his yellow companion. “Sabrina, be sure to show our honored guest his room. I imagine he could use some rest after a rough day.”

The yellow mare nodded. “As you wish, professor.”

Tina giggled a little as Markus struggled with his magical bonds. He flailed around silly, like a fish out of water.

“Don’t think I forgot about you, Tina Vargo. You’re coming with me as well.”

Tina’s eye shrunk to pinpricks. “What? This cannot be! Surely you are jesting with me!”

“I’m afraid not, Ms. Vargo.” Professor Lightkin motioned her over to accompany him, along with the other three trouble makers.

Tina groaned and pulled on her mane before submitting to his wishes. She glumly pawed after Lightkin, dragging her scaly feet across the floor, leaving Kenta to deal with the young unicorn mare and the crowd alone. Sabrina, I’m sure that’s her name, coughed quietly in her throat to gather everypony’s attention. Like a natural born leader, she had successfully caught their eyes and ears.

“Okay everypony! Go back to whatever previous activities you were doing before the fight, and I don’t want to hear a peep or rumor about the fight. I don’t want any word of this incident coming out from somepony’s mouth. Are we clear on that?” She scanned the entire crowd, as if she was daring somepony to speak out of line.

The crowd groaned in unison, but obviously got the message. It seemed that Sabrina was somepony that Kenta should not mess with. Not that he was planning to of course. She’s scary enough with her persistent stare alone. When the crowd slowly separated, she turned her attention back towards him. Her eyes glinted dangerously, but they also seemed to have a glimmer of amusement in them.

“The dorms are down that hallway,” she pointed out. “Go down there, and I’ll catch up with you later.”

“What? But I thought you were going to show me them,” Kenta wondered.

“And I will, but I have to stay behind and clean up the evidence. I’m sure you didn’t mean anything of ill, but I’m also sure that you don’t want a record of violating the school grounds due to a fight.”

Kenta was silent for a moment before he nervously chuckle. He sure didn’t want to already be marked as a trouble maker. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” Sabrina gave him a tiny grin before turning serious. “Go on now. Don’t wait for me.”

Sabrina watched after the grey pegasus after he quickly nodded and made his way to the dorms. What she said was true about the mess. She was going to clean it up, but not after confirming her suspicions. There was something odd about that pegasus’ aura. It felt as natural as a pony should be, but she felt it was becoming a little off, as if the balance of his spirit was knocked out of place. Judging by the way it flowed, this change was very recent. Was his magical aura change a product of the battle?

Only one way to find out.

The yellow mare brushed the fur along her forearm before digging into the golem’s body, getting her luminous blue mane dirty in the process. After searching around, she had confirmed her suspicions. Lodged deep within the golem’s body was an icy blue spike, freezing the vegetation around it into frozen popsicles.

Chapter 4: A New Day and Dreams

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:Kenta Silvercast:

“Alright. Here’s your dorm room, Kenta.”

The door swung wide open as Sabrina twisted the doorknob with her magic, revealing a very plain, boring room inside. The number of beds and desks inside were clearly meant to accommodate two ponies, and have a simplistic appearance to them. The luggage full of his belongings was on one of the beds, ready to be unpacked. On one of the nightstands was a floating blue crystal, emitting a nice soft glow around it. Other than the obviously magical object, the room was like a blank canvas, ready to be painted by various personal possessions.

The yellow unicorn pointed her hoof over the room, pointing out the few things that occupied its spaces. “You can choose any bed you would like. Until somepony else comes along, you get to have all this to yourself. Bathroom is over there… and that’s pretty much it. You can decorate this place in any way that you want as long as it is school appropriate.” With that done, she turned around and started to walk away.

“Wait.” Kenta reached for her shoulder, but pulled it back at the last second. It was probably a bad move. Sabrina, not noticing he reeled back his hoof, turned around with a questioning look. “What if I need anything else? Like if I need help or anything?”

“If that is the case, then refer to the crystal you see there. It’s a multi-purpose tool that all students have, one of them includes a phone. Tapping on it should do the trick.

“Wait, a multi-purpose tool?” Kenta stared right into the crystal, trying to identify what invisible contents it hides from him. It showed nothing but his reflection like a mirror would.

“Just experiment with it and find. Anything more questions you would like to ask?” Sabrina asked. However, she didn’t look like she wanted to stay here much longer.

Seeing that she was a busy mare, Kenta gave her a nervous smile and responded, “Nah, I’m fine. Thank you anyway.”

Sabrina gave him a brief nod before turning back towards the hallway. “You’ve been through a lot today, and you have a big day tomorrow. I believe it would be wise for you to get some rest until then.”

Kenta silently nodded, agreeing with her. And just like that, Sabrina left the room and into the hallway, going to take care of whatever business she had.

Kenta, before he went back into his room, took one last look at her. He wanted to remember what she looked like, so that he won’t make the mistake of not recognizing her in the future. She didn’t seem to be the forgiving type of mare. It wasn’t the yellow coat or blue mane that he wanted to keep in his mind, but rather the air of command that she wielded. Even from a distance he could feel her authority reaching out everywhere. He knew that if she just enters a room full of ponies, she would have everypony’s eyes on her. She just seemed that noticeable.

When Sabrina turned around the corner, he noticed on her flank was a golden staff cutie mark surrounded by a couple stars. The staff had a royal, angelic look to it, as if it was made for a mighty healer or a powerful queen. He didn’t get to know her that much yet, but Kenta quietly thought to himself how her personality and the cutie mark matched together in harmony.

I wonder what she does here. Is she a senior or something, Kenta wondered. His exhausted body then compelled him to yawn. I suppose I’ll figure it out later. I feel a bit tired.

Kenta decided to make the right side of the room his own and quickly sorted out his belongings into the drawers and on the desk. As he was closer to the bottom of the suitcase, a panel of glass that was buried underneath the clothes was revealed, successfully catching his attention with its small shine. He dug it out and took a good look at it to see it was a family photo of him with his parents; when mother was still alive, well, and happy.

In the picture, his father had a hoof on top of Kenta’s white mane, tousling it up into a little mess. Kenta chuckled as he remembered that day. Before the picture was taken, Kenta had said that he wasn’t happy with being little. His dad just laughed and flashed a white smile that contemplated with his black coat and silvery mane. His father always said that Kenta grow up to be big and strong one day. Seeing how today worked out, it looked like his father’s predictions were correct.

His mother, a cloud-white mare with a yellow mane as bright as the sun, just smiled on as she waited for the picture to be taken. She always enjoyed watching the two males in her life making their familiar bonds stronger together. After the picture was taken, Kenta remembered how her soft cheeks nuzzled against his own and told him they could go get some ice cream to make him feel better. Knocked out of his negative mood, he happily agreed. Kenta looked at her mother’s golden eyes and remember how his dad would always comment how he inherited the best features from the both of them: his mane color from his father, his eyes from his mother, and how the color of his coat was the combination from both of theirs.

Kenta continued his trip down memory lane until he noticed the sun outside the window was setting down to the horizon, painting it in an orange hue. He had been standing there for so long, that he didn’t even have time to unpack all his things! He looked down at the photo frame and saw that there were drops of clear liquid dotted across it. Were those his tears?

He propped the picture onto the nightstand next to his bed, and then rubbed his eyes to check for any remaining eye water. Sure enough, some or most of them got the coat on his arm wet with their saltiness. Kenta also started to notice the painful heart ache that was dealt to his chest. He really missed his parents a whole lot more than he thought. Even his body was feeling physical pain when he remembered them.

Reminding himself why he accepted to come to the academy in the first place, he strengthened his resolve to find out where his father had disappeared to and rescue him from whatever danger he was in. Kenta was sure his mother would want him to do that.

Kenta finished unpacking his stuff, and placed the now-empty suitcase next to the foot of the bed. With that out of the way, he could finally get some rest for the next morning. Like Sabrina said earlier, he probably had a lot to do tomorrow.

Kenta opened his eyes to meet with an ice-cold sight. He appeared to be on top of the summit of a nameless mountain, in the middle of nowhere. He looked around him and saw nothing worthy of notice due to the whirling snow storm around him. It was like being inside of a blender, except with snow inside it. The chilling ground below Kenta was biting at his warm hooves, threatening to freeze him into colt bits. A furious, frosty blast of air smacked Kenta across the face like it was angry, and that it didn’t want him to be there.

How did he get here in this bleak, cold place? One minute he was asleep in his dorm room, and the next thing he knew he was whisked away to this horrible place without permission. Was this a dream? It certainly didn’t feel like that to Kenta. The life-sapping temperature felt all too real to him, and it was putting his bones on the high-level of shivering. His legs were fiercely shivering, desperately trying to keep Kenta’s body warm and going. If he stayed here any longer, he’ll die.

Looking around once more, he knew that flying in the wind would spell trouble. The storm was about an eight on the Beaufort scale, meaning that he would get thrown around in flight. He could attempt to quickly dig a shelter in the snow, but he doesn’t have any clothing or fire starters to keep him warm. That only left one option: walking. Even though standing was difficult enough, walking was his only other alternative. With determination melded in his will, Kenta trudged forward in snow, going against the strong gales pushing him. Every once in a while, the winds would push him to the side, causing him to stumble, but he didn’t let that bother him and kept on going. With every step he took, the winds were becoming even more brutal, as if they wanted to impede his progress.

“Hello?” Kenta shouted at the top of his lungs, hoping to find help. “Is anypony out there?”

Not a single response came back to him, only the angry howl of the wind was there to taunt him. The tip of Kenta’s grey ears were bitten by ice, heavily suggesting his freezing demise was coming soon. His heartbeat dangerously slowed down, and his body was moving slower with each passing second. He wanted to accept the fact that this was a dream, but the feeling of death felt all too real for him to not believe it. Was he going to die here?

Suddenly, Kenta felt his hoof hit something and he tripped over it, crashing onto the icy blanket of snow. His usually warm breath was slowly matching the temperature around him, and the windy gales were sounding like music to him; a song of despair and gloom. His eyelids lowered, threatening to put its owner into an eternal sleep.

Kenta struggled to keep them open, not willing to give up. His resolve to live was steeled, and his end can’t be here. Not when his father was still out there, alone and in trouble. He can’t… he can’t die here. But no matter how much Kenta thought about it, no matter how hard he wished to keep walking, the cold was eating him alive. He can’t stay awake much longer. His eyes were near the closing point, and his body stopped shivering.

Before Kenta’s eyes could close, however, something large moved within the corner of his vision. Was it the wolves? It looked to pale to be a wolf though. At best, he could tell that it was actually translucent, and had no sign of fur on it. Was it the trick his mind was playing on him? Before he could say anything, his eyes closed to sleep. A loud whinny with the might of a cold storm boomed across the sky like war drums, further lulling his body to rest.

The grey pegasus gasped sharply as he woke up, and his heartbeat was thumping wildly. He felt his forehead and found it to be utterly sweaty and hot. The dream he had disturbed him quite a bit. He would be lying to himself if he didn’t admit that it didn’t strike a tang of terror in his heart. Honestly, it was the closest he ever felt to dying. But was that really a dream? It felt truly real to him, that he doubted it never happened. Or maybe he was just having a really bad nightmare. Yeah, that must had been it.

Feeling a tad bit too warm, Kenta threw the thick covers off of him and got out of the bed. Looking at his nightstand, he found a white envelope that wasn’t there last night.

Huh? I don’t remember leaving this here. Kenta opened up the envelope, revealing the two letters inside it. He started reading the actual letter part of the duo.

Dear Kenta Silvercast,
I’ve noticed that you didn’t have any of the required school supplies among your belongings. With the Council’s funds (along with their approval), I’ve bought the necessary tools that you will need along the course of your education here. Somepony will come by your room to deliver the supplies to you shortly after I send this letter to you. Make sure to make yourself familiar with all the items in the box as they would become your best assets in the school year. Also, I’ve included a list of your schedule for this week. Until we can sort out which classes you want to take, you’ll be going to these courses for the next seven days.
With the best of considerations,
Sabrina

As if by miraculous timing, a couple knock on his door was sounded, probably announcing the arrival of his supplies. Stretching out the sore muscles he still had from yesterday’s tussle with the Herbthorn brothers, he walked towards the door and opened it. Beyond the door was a unicorn levitating a huge package.

“Are you Kenta Silvercast?” she asked, her face was betraying no emotions. She clearly wasn’t impressed of him.

“I’m him.”

“Here’s your package.” The mare laid down the package and walked away without another word.

Kenta looked down at the package, the back up at the mare. “Wait, that’s it?”

The mare looked back at him. “Yes.”

“You’re not going to say anything else?” Kenta asked, a bit sad that this mare didn’t seem to want to have anything to do with him. “Not even a good bye?”

“Would you like me to say ‘good bye’ to you?”

“Um… maybe?”

“Okay… have a good day.” She then left without another glance at him, leaving him once more by his lonesome.

Kenta – after looking at the mare in bewilderment – dragged the package near him, bringing the box inside the room. The thing was really huge and heavy. He could have sworn this thing was full of bricks! Were there really school supplies in this box, or was Sabrina playing a cold prank on him? She didn’t seem like to the type to do so, but she did seem rather bitter yesterday. Maybe she was just usually like that, and was perhaps not used to having a pegasus around a school primarily for unicorns.

After dragging the box halfway into the room, Kenta plopped his butt on the floor and hugged the box closer to him. The package had masking tape sealed it up, so it would be pretty difficult to open it with his bare hooves alone. Luckily, Kenta had a letter opener brought with him for when Lily starts sending letters to him.

He searched around his room and came back to the box quickly with the opener in hoof, now fully prepared to unleash whatever was inside the darn thing. With a precise cut, he opened up the box to reveal a variety of times.

There were the normal stuff like notebooks, a set of pens and pencils, and folders, but there were also the strange and mystical supplies that came with it. All of them were very weird in their own way, like the glowing green orb thing that Kenta now held in his hooves. Exploring the surface with his hooves, he could easily tell that it was made of glass, and was probably very breakable. He pressed his ear against it, wondering if it emitted any sort of sounds, but nothing came to him. Only silence was being unleashed from the ball and its pulsating light.

What was this thing supposed to be used for exactly? Was it a ball that allowed him to look into the far past, or peer into the distant and near future? Was it something that could boost a unicorn’s magic by multiple folds? Or was this thing some sort of portable hologram projectors?

Only one way to find out. Kenta tapped on the ball, hoping it would reveal its powers that way.

The ball only responded by hitting him in the face.

“Ow!” Kenta winced. “That hurt!” He rubbed the space between his eyes where the ball hit. “What was that for?!” he demanded from the ball, wanting to know it had performed the dirty deed.

The ball just laid there on the floor, still glowing all green and stupid.

Frustrated with the ball, Kenta ignored it in order to focus on the other seemingly dangerous objects in the box for the time being. In the box, there was what seemed to be a potion set, humongous textbooks with glowing titles and symbols, stones with painted runes on them, and a wooden, polished stick. Kenta picked up the stick and paid attention to its ornate surface. From what he could gather from its half-a-hoof length and carved symbols on it, he could tell that it was a wand of sorts.

He remembered Chaotic talking about wands before, how they could help unicorn foals practice their magic if using their horns directly was a bit too difficult for them. While it wasn’t really shameful to use them, his friend insisted that it would be a bit embarrassing to use a tool meant for little foals. Ironically, Kenta – who can be considered to be a fully grown pegasus at his age – was now holding one of these beginner tools in his hooves.

This was unbecoming of him, and a bit depressing to say at least. Did someone in the school really think Kenta shouldn’t be here if they were giving him this? Did they really think it was hilarious to give him a tool meant for unicorn fillies and colts to use? Or maybe they thought that since Kenta wasn’t a unicorn, then maybe giving him a wand might possibly help him use magic; the type of magic that Kenta would probably never achieve at all in the first place.

All of this thinking wasn’t helping Kenta boost his self esteem, and at this point, he wasn’t too sure if looking inside his box again would be a good idea. It seemed that this box was doing nothing but giving him a bad time. Everything in that box reminded him that this was probably a stupid idea to come here in the first place. Sure, finding his dad was very important, but was it worth to be reminded that he was the only pegasus born in his unicorn family.

Yes, Kenta huffed, strongly reminding himself why he was here in this magic school in the first place. This is all completely worth it.

Heaving a heavy sigh, Kenta looked back inside the box, now cautious of anything that looks like it would punch him in the face. However, there wasn’t really anything else that was worthy of attention. Aside from all the books, all that was left a blue cloth knapsack.

Why would the school give him this? The knapsack didn’t look big enough to carry anymore than a couple textbooks. Maybe it was for holding something else? He lifted the bag by the string and judged its weight. It didn’t seem to be holding anything. He opened the sack to see if it actually did hold anything, guessing that it was probably a magical item. However, his theory failed him when his observation reported nothing but a dull emptiness inside the bag. It really didn’t look like anything special.

Make sure to make yourself familiar with all the items in the box as they would become your best assets in the school year.

Kenta stared into the space of the sack. If Sabrina really wasn’t lying to him, then there was definitely something up with this bag. He didn’t know why, but every single nerve in his body was telling him that something about this bag was enchanted. It was probably his lack of breakfast, but he could feel that there was more than meets the eye to this little knapsack.

Testing its capabilities, he stuffed in one of the tomes from the box into the bag. It slid in quite nice and comfy. He slid another in, and another, and another. On the fifth book in his hooves, a realization slowly grew in his mind. Despite his continuous attempt to stuff the bag to its limit, it didn’t seem to be getting any larger, nor was it feeling any heavier at all!

He patted around the outside of the bag to make sure if the books were in there. Sure enough, he felt the hard covers of the books as he knocked on the bag’s sides. Looking back inside, he could see all four of the three-inch thick books pressed neatly against each other, which was pretty cool to Kenta! What’s even more amazing is that there seemed to be even more space inside to store stuff in!

“Best. Backpack. Ever!” Kenta laughed, delighted to have such a prize!

If he had this knapsack during his high school years, then he wouldn’t have to worry about all the stacks of homework that kept overflowing in his old backpack! The mountain of books and assignments that made a home in his previous backpack usually caused him more than a few backaches when he carried them. To him, his entire life in high school was the most grueling workout plan ever of all time.

Not wanting to stop his fun, he continued to fill the magical bag with all the supplies the box had to offer until there was none left. Despite the entirety of the box’s contents was stored inside the bag, the knapsack still kept its moderately nice rounded figure as well as its weight. It felt as if Kenta was just carrying stuffed plush dolls instead of rock-heavy books.

Swinging the bag over his back, he now turned his attention towards the paper that held his schedule, ready to begin the main part of his day. Looking over the time, he saw that his first class was with Professor Lightkin for Illusions and Fabrications.

That was the teacher who intervened yesterday, right? Kenta remembered. Looks like I’ll be seeing him again. I’ll have to make sure to say thank you to him soon. I probably would had been a goner if the fight was still going. Markus really looked like he was going to rip my throat out! The pegasus gulped. He was still feeling the jitters from yesterday. Let see here. First class starts at 7:00 AM… what time is it now?

He looked at the blue crystal Sabrina pointed out last night, knowing it held the truth of time within its sparkling structure. After all, she did say it was a multi-purpose tool. A clock was probably one of them. Problem was though that Kenta had no idea how to use it. Experimenting once more, Kenta tapped on the tip of it to see what would happen. Luckily, the crystal responded and magically projected out a bunch of floating symbols. One of them was clock-shaped. Wanting to waste no time at all, he pressed on it to check the time. The clock symbol transformed into a set of numbers with a colon symbol cutting between them, revealing what the true time was currently now. It was ten minutes past seven in the morning.

“Oh Gaia damn it!” Kenta cursed out loudly.

Chapter 5: A Trial with a Few Errors

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:Kenta Silvercast:

Kenta galloped down the long stone walls, his fast hoof clicks earning him several glances from those he passed. He knew he was late to class, but he felt like he was spending way too much time trying to find it. His lungs were almost about to give out.

More than he wanted to, he had to stop and ask for directions to where Lightkin’s class was, which to him was completely absurd because he actually had a map of the school with him, but its layout didn’t seem to mirror reality. Every turn he made, he ended up somewhere he wasn’t expecting. However, luck seemed to smile on him as when he ran around a corner and found Lightkin’s room, Room H12.

“Oh thank Typhon it’s here!” He smiled in relief, slowing down to a canter as he neared the door. He went to open it, and slowly walked through the door way, keeping himself low in order to not get caught. It was a school habit of his to try not to get caught late, but usually his effort ended up in ashes as his teachers had already taken attendance prior to his late entry. However, it didn’t seem like he would be caught this time as he didn’t end up in a classroom. No, it was the mare’s bathroom. “Oh for crying out loud.”

The mares stared at him with wide eyes like deer, and then screeched their hearts out. They desperately tried to cover themselves up even though they weren’t wearing any clothes to begin with.

“Aaaah! Get out!”

“You don’t belong in here, you perv!”

“Get him out, get him out!”

Kenta flinched as various mare products were thrown at him. He stepped to the side just in time for a – was that a spiked flail?! Obviously it was an immediate cue to back the buck up and run like Tartarus, but not before getting scored in the eye by a blue manebrush. “Ow! That really hurt!” Pumping an extra burst of speed in his step, he took a running flight.

“I hope it does!” they all yelled after him, throwing insults like icy snowballs.

He was soon out of range of their voices, and took it as a safe sign to land. Kenta winced as his eye smarted, but he didn’t dare to attempt rubbing the pain out. This was all so frustrating! What the Tartarus is wrong with this school?! Was it messing with him? It was obviously a place of magic, but honestly he just wanted to go to his first period.

“Gah. I seriously wish I didn’t have to put up with all this,” Kenta groaned, starting to lean against a wall.

Unfortunately, it seemed like the school wasn’t done playing with him just yet. Instead of a hard, solid space, his body met with an empty one instead. He let out a girlish yelp, and he fell onto the floor with his chin down against its tiles. His jaw didn’t feel pleasant. A herd of mumbles filled his ears, as well as a set of hooves as they entered his vision. Kenta peered up the best he could.

“Well hello there. You’ve arrived just in time, Mr. Silvercast.”

“Hello, Professor Lightkin.” Kenta winced as he rubbed the base of his chin. “Ouch.” This pulled out a few giggles from his classmates, but they were immediately silenced as Lightkin glanced towards them. The professor lent forward a hoof, and Kenta graciously accepted the help. “Sorry I’m late, Professor.”

“Oh don’t feel sorry. Better late than never,” Lightkin kindly smiled. “We were actually just about to start discussing about an important topic, so I would say that you’re perfectly on time. There is an empty seat in the back for you.”

Kenta said his thanks, and swiftly trotted towards his seat. It was beside a wall holding a row of windows, allowing view of the great landscape of the country. The rolling green hills and blue, spacious skies were gifts to his eyes. He could actually see his hometown from here, which placed a happy mood in his walk. The second thing he noticed was the familiar dragon pony sitting next to his seat.

“Oh Kenta! Glad you made it,” Tina whispered, revealing a toothy grin.

Kenta could only give back a sheepish smile. “Yeah. I get the feeling that the whole school is out to get me.”

“Why do you say that?”

Kenta hung his book bag on the back of his chair and sat down. “I had a really hard time trying to get here. I had a map of the school with me, but apparently it’s outdated. Every corner I went around led me to somewhere I didn’t need to be at.”

“Like?”

Kenta looked around, afraid that someone may overhear, and leaned towards Tina to whisper. She also leaned towards him, but then he reeled back. “I’m not sure if I should tell you this.”

“Oh come on. It can’t be that bad,” Tina said, offering a smile.

“No. It’s really bad.”

“Well now you’ve tickled my interest.” Kenta didn’t dare to speak any further, but Tina urged him by poking him with her wings. “Tell me, tell me, tell me.”

Kenta softly frowned and let out a sigh. “I accidently got myself into the girl’s bathroom.” Tina stopped poking him. “I didn’t know how I got in there! It had the classroom number on it, but it didn’t turn out to be the door I was searching for. I think somebody was trying to mess with me. I mean there’s no way that the school can loop around back to the kitchen six times, right?”

“Well… that actually sounds like the test.”

Kenta blinked. “Test?”

“Yeah. It’s a test that all students here go through. They’re placed under an illusion once they’ve set foot in this place, if they were registered as students at the time. It would cause them to see things that they are not, and they’re also placed under a teleportation jinx.”

“But what about yesterday? I was able to go through the school well.”

“You had somepony to escort you that time. Somebody who had already broken the illusion and jinx placed upon them. It was actually quite easy to detect. I broke my connection to it when I first walked through the gates.”

“Oh, and you forgot to tell me?” Kenta frowned.

Tina sheepishly grinned, chuckling. “Sorry. I didn’t think it would affect a Pegasus, but I guess the spell affects everybody.”

“Probably,” Kenta agreed, resting his chin on his table. “Of course, a Pegasus like couldn’t possibly be able to break a spell. I guess I failed that test.

He felt his back being softly patted. “Oh don’t feel bad, Kenta. If you want, I can lift the spell off of you if you want. I’m sure the school wouldn’t mind, and make this an exception.”

“Thank you, Tina. That would be great,” Kenta smiled, grateful for the offer. “By the way, I didn’t know you were a student here.”

“I am. It’s my second year here.”

“Hey,” a mare in front of them harshly whispered, “could you guys keep it down? I can barely hear him!”

Kenta’s cheeks enflamed red in embarrassment. He forgot that they were still in class. “Sorry. Won’t happen again, I promise.”

The mare huffed and turned around towards the professor, who was standing in front of world map. A meter stick held in his magical grip was pointed at Magistrum. “As all of you may know, our country was formed because of our neighboring country, Equestria. Princess Celestia herself has sent forth her best warriors to our home long before it was Magistrum in order to claim it as part of Equestrian territory. Now, can anypony tell me why she would do this?”

Professor Lightkin surveyed the room, and picked Tina, who was raising her claw. “The lands of Magistrum were the homelands of the original three Pony Tribes. They all live together until they were driven away by the Windigoes, and Princess Celestia wanted to reclaim the land as they originally belonged to ponies.”

“And do you know how the Windigoes accomplished this?” Lightkin inquired.

“Nopony really knows as there hadn’t been any historical records of the Windigoes except in legends. Scholars have, however, speculated that they possess a form of magic that allows them to manipulate emotion. Theories say that the Windigoes may have caused the fires of conflict between the three Tribes, whose relations with each other were already unstable to begin with. This, combined with their natural affinity with weather magic, was able to push out the ponies from Magistrum and take the lands for themselves.”

“Correct, and can you tell us who were the warriors Celestia has sent?”

“The Vangaurds of the Light, a band of six ponies that are the top of Celestia’s Royal Guards, and were the second generation of ponies to become bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Their legacy continues in Magistrum’s main faction of Royal Guards, the Equine Shieldium Vanguard.”

Lightkin nodded to the answer, and his horn glowed a little brighter. A crystal ball propped on his desk glowed, and a large projection was casted from it for the entire classroom to see. Six ponies were detailed in the projection, all of them in shining, golden armor without their helmets. “Clover the Clever, the Element of Magic; Surprise, the Element of Laughter; Firefly, the Element of Loyalty; Apple Jacklyn, the Element of Honesty; Majesty, the Element of Generosity; and Posey Petals, the Element of Kindness.”

“More like Pansy Petals, the Element of Weakness,” a stallion quietly snickered somewhere in front of Kenta.

He didn’t know how his ears managed to pick that up, but the voice felt familiar enough for him to investigate. Instantly, he regretted it as he saw it was Markus, the nasty stallion from yesterday. How he didn’t see him on the way to his seat, he didn’t know, but Kenta was thankful that he was a few rows away from him. Unfortunately, it seemed like a couple of his friends were in the class as a few ponies sitting around Markus chuckled a little.

“I didn’t know he was in this class,” Kenta whispered to Tina.

Tina grimaced, her eyes squinting in disgust. “Yeah. I think you and I were unfortunate to become magnets for trouble. I looked ahead in my schedule, and he was in the list of all the classes I have! Same periods and everything! Forgive me for this, but I looked at your classes as well. You’re in the same boat as me.”

“What?!” Kenta said, suppressing his urge to yell. “You can’t be serious.”

“I wish I wasn’t,” Tina sighed, gazing at the six ponies glimmering in the magic hologram.

“– and in gratitude of Celestia helping her reclaim her country, Princess Platinum made a beautiful friendship between Magistrum and Equestria, which is why our country had fought all the wars that targeted Equestria. Any questions?”

A student raised her hoof, and Lightkin nodded to her. “But now we’re at a state of peace with the other nations, right?”

“That is correct. The Griffins and Ponies have been caught against each other in centuries of turmoil, but that all changed three hundred years ago when King Iron Talon extended a claw of not violence, but friendship.”

“I still think those bastards should take a beating or two,” Markus muttered somewhat loud.

“I wouldn’t recommend that, Markus,” Lightkin said, his face not betraying any expressions, although Kenta could feel disappointment being released from the teacher. Then the class bell rung. “Class dismissed,” Professor Lightkin announced. “Seeing how it is first day of school, we won’t have homework tonight.”

The class went in an uproar of cheers, but Kenta only slumped in his seat, not too excited about his next classes.

Kenta was praying throughout the day that Markus wouldn’t notice him, or at least leave him alone, but fate didn’t feel like granting his wishes. He could still feel the sticky spitballs attached to his mane like foals to their mothers, and the whispers hung around his ears as if they were pixies. Right now, he felt like the time spent here wasn’t giving its worth. After class, he tried asking Professor Lightkin about his father, but the professor couldn’t provide. He didn’t have a faint clue, but he said the council had looked like they were getting less sleep each day, and it started way before his father’s disappearance.

“I have no doubt in my mind that your father is still alive. He knows how to defend himself well, and I’m sure he’ll find his way back. But for his sake, pray for him.”

Kenta knew Professor Lightkin had said that with good intentions, but he couldn’t help but feel a little resentful. He had been praying for his father in the past few days. No need to be reminded of that.

“Yo Kenta? You doing alright?” Tina asked, walking beside Kenta down the corridors. She had seen him starting to walk around aimlessly after the last class, and it tickled her concerns quite a bit, so she caught up to him in a heartbeat.

“Hmm? Well… I’m doing fine I guess. Just got some things on my mind.”

Tina kicked off the ground and started fluttering above him. “Like?”

“Sorry, but I really don’t want to talk about it.”

“You sure? I mean your eyes look kind of ill,” she commented as she dropped down in front of him, halting his walk.

“What do you mean?” Kenta muttered hotly, accidently letting out a growl.

“They’re look darkened. Your irises are smaller than the usual size, and they have been ever since you’ve talked with Lightkin after class.”

“My irises ar– wait you’ve been staring at my eyes?!” he burst out, backing off a little in shock.

“N- no! I mean yes! Eyes are windows to the soul!” she defended. “I’m just worried about you!”

“Well why are you?!” he snapped.

“I just am!” Tina huffed. She readjusted her mane, throwing out frustrated grunts as she walked around Kenta. “You know, you’re making this really difficult for me!”

“Difficult with what?” he scowled, his mood a little dimmed.

“Talking. Just plain talking.”

Kenta’s frown was lightened up a bit at what she just said. “What do you mean? You were talking with me fine just earlier in class.”

“Well yes. Maybe! I don’t know,” she fretted. “I mean you’re the first pony I actually had full conversations with!”

He tilted his head to the side in confusion, his brain trying to piece together the puzzle. “Wait… what are you saying?”

The dragon pony deeply sighed, did some deep breathing, and looked straight at him in the eye. “Well let’s just say… that I’m not the most popular girl at this school.”

“Not… the most popular?”

Kenta was about to ask some more about what she meant, but the echo of somepony calling his name interrupted his train of thought. A set of hooves could be heard clacking fast against the marble floor. “Kenta! Kenta, where are you?”

Tina’s ears twitched as she caught the voice. “Somebody you know?”

Kenta listened to the voice some more, than smiled with absolute glee in his eyes. “Aye. It’s somepony special to me.”

His breath was trapped as the owner of the voice ran into the hall from one of the other ones in front of them. Orange and blue, it’s Lily, with a look of absolute need on her face. “Kenta, where are you?” she yelled.

“I’m over here!”

A slight gasp entered Lily’s lungs as she swerved around, seeing a familiar face. “Kenta!” A mixture of orange, blue, and grey tumbled together as Lily hug tackled him to the floor. “There you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!”

“For how long?” Kenta laughed, restraining himself to kiss her as he hugged back.

“Since thirty minutes ago. Did you remember today is the day of the Royal Cadet Trials?”

Kenta tried to quickly process the information going through his head, still in a daze that Lily was hugging him. Oh my Gaia, Lily was hugging him. He could feel steam blowing out of his ears, and all that came out of his dunder of a mouth was, “Uhhhh.”

“Chaotic is going through them today, and we’re gonna miss his if we don’t go right now!”

“Oh crap!” Kenta quickly patted Lily on the shoulder, signaling her to get off. He got on all fours fast, his cheeks blushing red with embarrassment. “Sorry! I actually forgot that was today!”

“So I’m guessing we’re going to see a bunch of cute boys fight then,” Tina joked with a giggle.

Lily, seemingly noticed Tina for the first time today, replied with a laugh of her own. To Kenta, it felt like angels had sang when her happiness sang out. “Yep! I guess we are! You’re the dragon pony from when you came to pick up Kenta, right?”

Tina bowed. “Tina Vargo, and yes I am. It’s a second year thing. We usually welcome the new comers first before anypony else. Can I join you two?”

“Sure!” Lily said, starting to run ahead of them. “Come on! We’re gonna be late!”

Tina moved to sprint after Lily, but then Kenta stopped her momentarily. “Hey, um, I’m sorry what I did back there. I don’t usually snap like that.”

On Kenta, a look of shame was obviously not trying to hide. Tina responded with a smile. “It’s alright. I know you were having a bad day, but it seems like there are silver linings today.”

Kenta nodded. Lily then hollered, “Are you guys coming or what?”

“Coming!” both Kenta and Tina shouted back in unison.

“Hey! Watch it!”

“Some of us are trying to enjoy the trials here.”

“Sorry!” Kenta, Tina, and Lily all said as they arrived in a timely fashion, squeezing their way through the crowd much to their displeasure.

Despite the complaints, they managed to squeeze their way to the front of the crowd where the railings were. Down below was a large, rectangular arena with golden torches to light up the area, and three circular patterns on the floor aligned in a triangle formation. Crystal chandeliers in the shape of raindrops hung from the ceiling, casting faint, colorful glows around.

Down below on the arena was a lightly armored stallion facing off a vicious, furious Timber Wolf. Other piles of wood scattered about were signs to there being other Timber Wolves before, and that this one was the last remaining member of the pack. It bared its stake-like teeth at the lightly armored spear wielder, snarling brutally as green-tinted saliva dripped from its canine rows. Pushing hard with its hind legs, the Timber Wolf rocketed towards the stallion, its mouth and claws hungry for pony blood. Unfazed, the stallion thrust the point of his spear directly towards the pit of its gapping jaws. The Wolf’s momentum did most of the work as the spear ran through the beast’s throat, causing a satisfying crunch to follow soon afterwards. Wolf to splinter, pieces of mossy wood fell in front of the warrior.

A storm of applause erupted from the audience, prompting the stallion to leave the arena. The judges, sitting in a room with a wide window above the crowd, whispered amongst each other, most likely discussing about the trial taker’s performance. From their formal uniforms, Kenta could tell that they were decorated officers. Veterans whose decisions would affect the outcome of a cadet’s future. The doors behind the candidate swung open wide, and the stallion left.

Conversations started to form in the crowd again until a judge stood up from his seat. His coat was a menacing red, and his military-cut mane was auburn brown. His jaw was the definition of a rugged warrior, as well as his build. He was obviously working out.

“Last applicant, please step forward.” he said, his voice deep and smooth like an ocean.

Kenta looked back towards the large doors, his breath locked. If he really did miss his best friend’s exam, the one he was training for months, he could never forgive himself. Fortunately, he could breathe again as a familiar orange face walked through the doors, a confident smile marked on his lips.

“Name?” the judge asked.

“Chaotic Noteworth, sir.”

“You can call me ‘sir’ when you pass the exam.”

Chaotic laughed. “Sure, sure.”

Kenta relaxed his still posture as he leaned on the marble railings. He seemed to be fine down there. When Kenta glanced at Tina, however, he saw a streak on concern go across her squinting eyes. “Is everything alright, Tina?”

“Your friend,” Tina began, “he doesn’t seem… alright to me.”

“What do you mean,” Kenta frowned.

“It’s his magic aura. It’s faint. Really faint and it’s really unusual for a Unicorn. I can barely see a whiff of it.” she explained. “Is he going to be alright?”

Kenta looked back down at Chaotic. His friend looked up, saw him, and smiled as he waved towards him. Kenta waved back, trying to look happy for him. Although he still couldn’t help but have a pang of concern within him. The guy said he was able to finally perform a magic spell, but he didn’t quite explain what it was.

Still, that was no reason to start doubting now.

“I trust him,” Kenta stated, looking Tina in the eye. “I’ve known him for a long time, and he never backs down from a challenge. He’ll overcome this like anything else before.”

Tina returned his gaze, simply nodded, and returned her attention back to the arena.

“Are you ready, Chaotic Noteworth?” the rugged officer asked.

“You think I’m a slouch? Of course I’m ready,” Chaotic confidently replied, performing a few warm-up stretches.

“Then so we shall,” the judge said, his lips curling into a small smile. He looked down at a group of hooded ponies in the crowd. They had a little space away from the others. “Summoners! Engage!”

Glows emitted from underneath their hoods, some of them chanting strange enunciations from the depths of their lungs. The magic diagrams on the light brown field glowed bright blue, and white globs started to rise from it like lava lamp gel. The globs swirled together, forming three white, naked Earth Pony-shaped bodies. Their faces were featureless apart from their mouths, where they held white scimitars by the hilt.

“Ooh? Ponnequin dolls,” Chaotic chuckled, drawing two daggers from the holsters strapped on his back. He balanced upon on his hind legs with little to no difficulty. “This shall be weird.”

“Swords?” Lily mumbled, her excited grin turning upside down. “I didn’t know they were going to use swords… ”

“It’s a new standard this year,” Tina explained. “There are going to be fewer rounds, but the enemies are tougher than the usual Timber Wolves. Usually the judges pick which enemies the applicants will face based on their current equipment. Your friend is using daggers, yes? Well they aren’t very good for going up against enemies who like to get extremely close.”

“I… suppose you’re right,” Lily said, looking down at Chaotic with worry.

The ponnequins charged forward, making a beeline for Chaotic with their curved swords raised high. They all jumped and swung their blade down on him, but Chaotic simply performed a back flip away from the attack. The dolls wasted no time as they reformed their positions and charged once more. They swept their blades from the left side of Chaotic, prompting him to jump away to the right. The three dolls once again recollected their footing, this time forming a half-circle formation around in front of him. Chaotic soon realized he was just backed into a corner.

“Well isn’t this a surprise,” he muttered to himself.

The crowd held their breath as the dolls dashed for the kill. The scimitars’ white edges gleamed and shouted to be painted in red. However, the only physical thing they hit was the solid wall. Chaotic had jumped straight up and used the walls behind him as his platforms to jump off of. His body spun in an airborne dance over the dolls, and he roughly landed on three of his hooves, still raising one of his blades. He dashed towards the dolls and sliced at their gaskins. The bodies were surprisingly delicate, their legs cracking open like pottery. They all fell backwards, causing a domino effect of crash after crash until they were all shattered into pieces.

The crowd sounded their approval like a choir. They were obviously impressed by the newcomer’s skills. Kenta was also in awe. He knew Chaotic had it in him, but he never seen him pull off such fantastic feats before. The most he ever saw Chaotic fight was exchanging punches with bullies during high school.

“Quite interesting candidate here.” Kenta’s ears perked as he caught whiff of a nearby conversation about his friend. “A Unicorn, but he isn’t using magic yet? I wonder if the judges could even look at him without wondering if he even perform a decent magic missile.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it. They could always use more soldiers, but this guy is pretty talented on two legs.”

“Yeah. I respect that. I can tell that a reputation is already building up around him. Still curious if he has any fancy tricks up his sleeves.”

The magic circles glowed again as the summoners conjured up two more dolls, this time with some armor on them. One had a Unicorn horn and was holding a long sword in its magical grip. It was donned in a thin web of chainmail. The other was an Earth Pony with a shield as big as its body strapped to its side, and looked bulkier than the other ponnequin. Its white body was enclosed in iron, with a horned helm to complete.

The Unicorn doll was surprisingly light on its hooves, quick to sprint and take a swipe at Chaotic. Too late to dodge, Chaotic quickly cross the blades of his daggers together and caught the sword between them. He pushed the sword away and leapt back as it jabbed the sword towards him. The Earth Pony doll lumbered forward with the intent to ram him flat with its horned helm, but it wasn’t as fast as its companion, making it easy for Chaotic to sidestep from its path. The heavy ponnequin made the mistake of continuing the charge, and it ended up crashed headfirst into the wall. It pulled away, leaving the helmet embedded in the wall and its head exposed.

Chaotic saw an open window and flipped through the air towards the Earth Pony doll, his leg smashing first into its head. A quick kill. The sound of iron clanked as the doll fell to the floor. Chaotic huffed with satisfaction and took a stance towards the other doll. He tried to keep steady on his hindlegs, but he could feel the straining toll of it. He knew that ponies were never meant to be fully bipedal, but his magical grip was never as strong as his physical one, and he practiced with bladed weapons in his hooves a whole lot more than his magic.

The doll began to circle around him, seemingly sizing him up, waiting for Chaotic to slip up. Annoyed, Chaotic threw one of his daggers at the doll, hoping to strike true. He lost his balance, forcing him to go on all fours. Regrettably, the doll had sense the attack coming and leaned its head to the side, barely avoiding a blade to the face. Taking advantage of Chaotic’s displacement, the doll dashed forward and sliced its sword across Chaotic’s chest. Blood was let loose, spilling red dots over the marble floor.

The crowd chattered at this turn of events, with Lily crying out loud, “Chaotic!”

“D- don’t worry, Lily,” Kenta said in his best reassuring tone. “I’m sure it’s just a scratch.”

“A scratch?! Chaotic is bleeding!”

Kenta bit his lower lips at the mention of that. “I- it… yeah, it looks pretty bad.”

“Why isn’t anypony stopping this?” Lily said with urgency filling her lungs.

“You didn’t know?” Lily turned towards the new voice. It was one of the two people that Kenta overheard earlier. He was a Unicorn with a white coat and flowing light blue mane that ran all the way down his shoulders. His cutie mark was a bow and arrow, the arrow’s head in the shape of a star. “A trial doesn’t end until the candidate finishes or is fully defeated. He won’t end up dead.”

Lily had a look of shock crossing her face, then anger, then tamed frustration. “You better hope you’re right.”

“Or what?”

Lily shot a glare straight into his eyes, and he recoiled away from it. “Or there will be consequences.”

“I assure you he’ll be fine,” he promised.

Lily let out a few angry puffs through her nostrils, and then calmed herself. She turned back to the battle. “I hope you’re right.”

Chaotic dashed towards the doll to strike it down, but the blood flowing from his chest made his vision hazy. He tripped slightly enough to make his running unbalanced. The ponnequin sliced the sword down, barely dodged by him. He could have sworn a few nicks of his hair were cut off. If he didn’t end this now, he would pass out from the loss of blood, and that would make an embarrassing day. Improvising, he tossed his dagger in the air. The ponnequin looked up, seemingly looking quite confused by Chaotic’s action. Its chest was soon greeted by a hard impact by Chaotic’s hoof and was punched across the room. Its body was shattered into pieces as it crashed against the wall.

“Wow. Dangerous gamble, but pretty clever,” Tina commented.

“I have to say that I’m quite impressed he would take such a dare,” the white stallion agreed. “These dolls are made with only basic instinct. I didn’t think they had an ounce of curiosity in them.”

“What do you think, Shooting Star?” his companion said, a grey unicorn with a mane yellow and a cutie mark of an oil lantern.

“Well Blitz, I think that out of all the candidates so far, he is pretty promising,” Shooting smirked.

The summoning circles glowed once more, this time with only one figure. This ponnequin, however, didn’t look like the others as it was hulking huge as a hay wagon, and was packing a rather large war mace to go with it. Instead of being white, its body was completely clad in grey metal. Something wasn’t right. Whispers started to increase among the crowd, and the summoners looked flustered. Slowly, the golem raised its spiked weapon above its head before letting it crashed towards Chaotic. He saw it coming and leapt out of the way before it could do any serious damage to him.

“Um, are the enemies supposed to be that huge?” Kenta asked, eyeing the behemoth with suspicion.

Shooting Star shook his head, looking less relaxed than before. “No. There has to be a mistake. The summoners would never make the exams this difficult.”

One of the judges, an aged mare, suddenly stood up, staring at the summoners below with clear disappointment. “What’s going on down there? Stop this exam now!”

One of them attempted to break the barrier with a direct beam of magic towards the golem, but a magical dome of yellow energy suddenly appeared out of existence before fading away. “It’s no use! The barrier isn’t responding!”

The crowd’s whispers suddenly grew in rising concern. Lily looked at Shooting Star, obviously anxious about the sudden turn of events. “The gate! Chaotic can escape through there right?”

“I’m sorry to say that he can’t. The gates are locked right now, and the barrier blocks that as well,” Shooting Star frowned as he touched where the barrier appeared. Sure enough, yellow colors flared up as he made contact with it. A tiny stream of blue energy came out from his horn and slithered its way towards the magic shield. It made contact, blue ripples expanding across the barrier from where it touched, and Shooting Star closed his eyes. A few minutes passed by before he severed the connection, a frown deepening into a scowl. “Somepony tampered with it.”

A boom and dust cloud exploded in the arena, caused by the golem’s heavy strike against the ground. Chaotic was escaping all of its attack, dancing around the battlefield with the agility of a hare. Chaotic jumped towards the golem’s head, but the sweep of the mace pounded against his body, sending him flying towards the wall. A small crater was formed where he crashed, and Chaotic fell onto the ground in a heap, not moving.

“Chaotic!” Lily cried out.

Tina raised her talons and struck into the barrier. Kenta watched in awe as the talons pierced the shielding so easily, but the kirin’s efforts went in vain as they were suddenly pushed out. He had expected holes to be left behind, but the barrier looked unaffected at all! No holes or signs of her claws ever stabbing it.

“Damn,” Tina cursed, “not even my claws can pierce through it. This is some high-level magic woven into it.”

Kenta never felt so helpless before as he watched the golem trudged its heavy hooves towards his unconscious friend, dragging its mace on the ground like an executioner with his beheading axe. The ground shook slightly as it walked. Kenta, desperate to save Chaotic, slammed his forehooves against the shield, trying to break it with all of his might, but the barrier yield to no avail. He continued to try even when it started to pain him. He had to get Chaotic up. He had to save him!

“Chaotic! Wake up!” he bellowed.

The mace was raised high, and came down as quick as lightning with a thundering boom. Multiple amounts of debris were tossed into the air, and a cloud of dust covered the scene with only the golem visible. Silence fell upon the room.

Quietly, the rugged judge adjusted his microphone. “The trials today unfortunately have to be cut shortly. We’ll fix this issue right away.”

“… N- no.” Kenta looked beside him to see Lily shivering, her eyes leaking streams. “H- he can’t be d- dead, can he?”

“I… I don’t know,” Kenta sighed, “I don’t know.”

Lily croaked up a few sobs before burying her crying into his embrace. Kenta gave up a few tears of his own. Where did it all go wrong? Wasn’t Chaotic supposed to be helping him find his father? It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. He wanted to believe the impossible, but this was too much to take in for him.

“Do not give up on hope, Kenta.” He looked over his shoulder towards Tina, seeing her have a toothy grin. “Your friend is still alive.”

“What makes you say that?” Lily asked between her sniffles.

Tina didn’t pay much attention to her, her eyes casted down towards where Chaotic was. “Well… I believe he had a couple tricks up his sleeves after all.”

The crowd gasped in unison as golem suddenly shifted backwards a little. The cloud dust cleared up, showing the mace rising from the impacted area, but not because it was by the golem’s will. A burst of blue energy exploded outward from beneath the mace, throwing the weapon and golem across the arena like ragdolls. Chaotic was bruised and hurt, slightly bleeding out of his mouth, but he didn’t look bothered at all despite being crushed by a mace a few seconds ago. Instead of a pained expression on his face, it was a confident grin.

Lily continued to cry, but this time with a smile. “He’s alright!”

“Well what do you know? He did have some magic in him,” Blitz smirked. “This will be interesting.”

Chaotic peered above him to see his friends now cheering for him, as well as the rest of the crowd. The golem ahead of him was already back onto its hooves, charging forward with surprising agility. Despite the limbs hurting him, Chaotic jumped to the side out of its mace’s path and onto the weapon itself. He ran up to it with his hooves glowing blue with fiery energy trailing from it. Reaching its shoulders, he started delivering a barrage of punches to the side of the golem’s head, battering it completely, leaving dent after dent.

The golem tossed and turned around, throwing Chaotic off balance and earning him a fall to the ground. Chaotic dodged another one of its strikes again, but the debris from the mace impact smacked against his body a couple times, one of them hitting him in the belly. He could feel the wind knocked right out of him, and he coughed harshly as he desperately got air back into his lungs. Once again the mace was swept like a broom towards him, smacking him like a baseball. It should have brought death to the stallion, but to everypony’s surprise, he still struggled to stand. On his hindlegs no less!

His forehooves were enflamed with energy again, this time with yellow. He ran towards the golem with a throat-harsh bellow, not bothering to dodge as the golem brought the mace down towards him. Chaotic reeled back his left forehoof and punched towards the mace. Unbelievably, the mace flew out from the golem’s grip, disarming the hulking automaton. The golem backed off a few steps from being disarmed all of the sudden.

Wasting no time at all, Chaotic rocketed towards the golem’s chest and dealt the final blow, punching the golem all the way towards the gate. The barrier crashed and collapsed from impact, as well as the gates, and the golem was on its back, unmoving. The crowd was silent again, and then exploded into a mass of cheering.

Mages swarmed around the golem once the barriers had disappeared, casting precautionary magic chains around the golem. Meanwhile, Chaotic was making his way out of the arena, despite the protest of some of the mages. Kenta couldn’t help but wonder where he was going.

A claw was placed upon his shoulder. “Come on,” Tina said, “he’s probably going to the locker rooms.”

CiF: Blowing Through the Pages

by Chaotic Note

Chapter 1: Magic? But I'm a Pegasus!

Chapter 2: Magistrate's Representative

Chapter 3: By a Golem's Fall

Chapter 4: A New Day and Dreams

Chapter 5: A Trial with a Few Errors