Misty stepped aside to make room for Amber as they worked together to prepare for another day of magic lessons at the Maretime Bay library, a place that had become well known as being a location for any and all ponies interested in learning how to use their natural abilities and talents.

Amber cleaned at bits of dirt, emptying them back into the pots they came from. "The earth ponies are really learning their plant magic. I'm so proud of all of the ponies that come here." She beamed at the thought. "All the tribes, learning to be the best ponies they can be."

"Same!" Misty passed over a brush as she cleaned off the lecterns and prepared the room for their students properly. "Some of my students have real talent for spell casting." She pulled a book from a shelf and set it on a lectern, getting ready for more lessons today. "I'm starting to think it really is an age thing. Get a unicorn young and they soak up the basics so fast! I almost feel a little dumb with how long it took us to get that far."

Amber bit back a laugh as she thought about how long it had taken them to master any of their abilities back when they had started to learn them and replied, "Yea, but we got there eventually. Plus, we kinda had to discover it at all in the first place." She wobbled her head thinking about it. "That was work! We trotted so they can gallop."

Misty set a hoof on Amber's shoulder in support and sympathy for how hard it had been for them to reach their current levels of understanding and mastery over magic despite not having any teachers to help them learn and grow as students of magic. "That was amazing how we were able to figure it all out on our own without any help at all from others before we came here."

Comforting popped into being. "Forgotten already? I was a helper to at least one of you."

"Comfy!" Amber playfully batted at her leg with a hoof. "But, yes! We had Comfy's help and now everyone can benefit from what we've learned since then."

Comforting reached down to ruffle Amber like the adorable pony she was. "It was a pleasure, and I'm really quite happy to see things rolling organically here. I shouldn't have to remind each unicorn how to unicorn. That's a unicorn's job." She tapped at the end of Amber's horn. "And you two seem to be doing alright at that."

Misty settled down beside Amber for a moment before glancing towards Comforting with a glimmer of hope in her eyes as she questioned, "Was there something you wanted?"

Comforting laughed cheerfully as she playfully poked at Misty with a finger and replied, "Mmm, can't I just pop in to visit my favorite couple?"

Misty turned red instantly. "We're not a couple! Um, we're spell buddies." She hugged Amber with one arm. "Working together to figure out magic. But we're not marefriends."

Comforting held a hand up. "Sorry, sorry, it's easy to read when ponies get close." She cleared her throat and got on with it as she inquired, "What's on the syllabus for today?"

Amber hopped to her hooves and grabbed a bit of chalk in her magic. She began drawing runes rapidly. "This gets easier with practice, but I was thinking this one."

Comforting blinked at what appeared. "The partial transformation spell? Far be it from me to discourage potential chaos, but are you sure they're ready for that?"

Misty shared in her wariness of using that particular spell. "Maybe we can save that for later? When they've mastered more than one shape?" She frowned at that idea with a soft humm of thoughtfulness.

Amber waved a hoof at Misty. "If you remember, Coriander made a mistake with a transformation. We want her to not get scared. So, I think it's time we taught her how to do it properly." She gestured towards the partial transformation rune again for emphasis as she continued explaining herself, "It might even give her a good sense of control, which I think will be good for her overall."

Misty slumped slightly and let out a quiet little whine at the thought of their students having to cast such a complex spell so soon after just having been taught basic ones. "If you really think so? We'd better keep an eye on them. Coriander's mom will be there, and if they get hurt, she'll be all over us!"

Amber squeaked at that memory of how much that mare could shout and rave about things when she got all worked up and took Misty's hoof with her own. "Let's get ready for the big test!" She used her horn to drag Misty off into another room with a skip to her step.

Comforting giggled at them as she turned to go elsewhere in the library with her tail swishing behind her playfully as she did so, "Not a couple, right." She rolled her eyes with the doubt she felt. "Such an adorable not-couple."

Hitch made a soft groan as he climbed up the stairs slowly and sighed as he reached the top. He heaved for breath, wiping his brow. Comforting started at the sight of him, and the great wagon behind him full of plants. "What are you doing, Hitch?"

He patted at the wagon with pride in his eyes. "The plants we have in the learning room are great and all, but more variety will help my students learn! Some plants bloom in different seasons, or need different nutrients! And even different locations."

"What are you going to do with them all?" Comforting crouched down to look in on the wagon curiously with her head tilted to the side. "You'll expand out of your part of the room with this many new plants." She brushed the leaves of one between her fingers. "Nice ones though."

Hitch chuckled at that as he patted at one of the plants that he had collected. "I thought some of the non-magical plants from Zephyr Heights might be good for the earth ponies to examine since they'll never find any like them in Maretime Bay. Different environment, different plants, right?" He pulled the wagon with little squeaks from its wheels across the library. "Want to lend a hoof to set these up?"

Comforting drifted along. "You could borrow a hoof, but I imagine a hand would be more helpful from me." She scooped up some plants and balanced them in her arms. "There's one downside to these new hoofful of students though."

Hitch patted a pot in Comforting's hand. "What's that? I'm loving sharing what I know with eager little foals. Um, even the older ones are great. We're getting earth ponies of all ages."

Comforting came to the classroom and carefully arranged them where Hitch told her to. "I didn't mind teaching Amber Skyray when she was starting. Looks like I'm not needed for earth ponies." She stroked over her chin, stroking her own fur. "You know, earth ponies just didn't do this kind of magic back in the day, especially at this scale."

Hitch laughed as he pulled more plants from the wagon, starting to set them up around the room wherever he could find space for them. "I think it's a good change for us all."

The door creaked open and Zipp strolled in with a wide grin on her lips and two Pegasi following after her. "Hey!" She hurried to Hitch's side. "Fellow teacher! How's your class going? Oh, one sec." She turned back to her students. "You two should be proud! You made it through night flights without a problem. Now, get some sleep. You're probably exhausted."

One of them fanned herself. "We had to land on those weird floating bits and that was... oh wow." She held herself up weakly on wobbly hooves. "So hard."

The other nodded along as she stumbled towards the ground slowly only for Zipp to catch her. "Thanks, teach. Yeah, that was rough." She smiled despite it. "But it was fun, and we did it!"

"Yeah!" The first laughed weakly, turning for the door. "Sleep sounds really good."

"Yes! Rest! I'll see you later." Zipp helped the pony down the stairs. She came back up and stretched. "Ahh! Good lesson."

Hitch nodded at that statement, though his attention was on having each plant at exactly the right place.

Zipp watched him a moment. "That's a lot of plants. This room's getting crowded with them. Is this for a specific lesson?"

"Uh huh." He patted one on the leaves as he settled it down. "Learning about different plants can only help my students grow in their own magic abilities as much as possible!"

Zipp paused, examining one of the plants that he had been carrying around and lifted a hoof to point at it and asked curiously, "Oh! Well, if it's only for a day, that'll be okay."

Hitch stalled. "It'll be a bit longer than that." He laughed nervously. "That okay?"

"I don't mind the plants but um..." Zipp scrunched up her muzzle at the sight of them and then shot a glance towards Hitch before gesturing around the room with a hoof and explaining her concerns about all the plants filling up the room, "it's just kinda cluttered in here."

Comforting floated along, arms crossed. "I did warn you. Though this may be partly an Amber problem. One room for all three tribes may not be enough room."

Hitch winced. "Oops."

Amber entered, staring at a scroll and marking things off. "Yes! Got everything I need." She skipped along merrily until she bumped into a bush. "What's that doing here?"

Hitch gulped and sweated as he looked around at the mess he had created in the learning room and then answered that question, "Oh, it's for my lesson! I want them to learn about different kinds of plants!"

Amber patted at the plant as each pony had before it. "It's nice and all, but, hm." She turned in place. "They're everywhere. Comfs?" She turned for Comforting directly. "Do you know what that room's used for?" She pointed at a wall.

Comforting looked at that same wall. "That one? Storage mostly." She flashed a bright smile. "You want to use it?"

"Please." Amber gave her best cute eyes at Comforting. "Let's give the earth ponies a room for themselves. They need the space."

Hitch rubbed at his own neck nervously. "That might be for the best."

Comforting picked him up in her arms. "Easy peasy." She stood up tall and shoved one paw against the wall hard. It collapsed backwards and the rubble faded from being shortly after. The room beyond cleaned itself rapidly, the things in it whisking away to other parts of the library. All the plants in the shared room began migrating on little legs into the earth pony room.

Amber scrambled to keep up, hoofing each plant into place.

"You're welcome." Comforting spun around with a wide smile on her face and set Hitch back on the ground. "Looking forward to seeing how all the ponies learn and grow."

Misty meandered over to see what was going on and poked her head around the corner into the new room where the earth ponies would be learning about plants with an intrigued expression on her face. She glanced about the room curiously at all the changes that had been made to it in such a hurry. "Wow! You got a big classroom right here."

Amber waved Misty closer. "Our classroom just got larger, since the earth ponies just got their own. I think this is better for everypony. It'll give all our students more space to do what they want and be what they are without worrying about anypony getting hurt in the process." She clapped her hooves with building excitement. "Our library's really grown into its own 'thing'. None of the other ones we saw offered lessons on how to pony."

Misty circled around her a few times with a gentle smile on her lips. "Yep! This is a one of a kind place to be for sure." She watched as all the plants that had once filled up their previous classroom be placed neatly into their new homes one by one.

Hitch wandered by slowly and watched as his new room began taking shape around him, enjoying seeing it take shape into a space that would be used solely for learning earth pony tricks. "This looks great!" He grabbed a nearby tree and hugged int gently. "Love it. Now, I'm still sheriff, so I got to get to that. Class will be on in the afternoon, okay?"

Amber and Misty looked at one another with looks of disbelief on their faces as they realized just how busy Hitch was getting being both the sheriff of Maretime Bay and trying to teach the earth ponies things. They shared a shrug as Hitch left to go patrol and be sheriffly for a while.

Misty asked, "You think he can do it?"

"For now." Amber hoofed a last potted plant onto a shelf. "But, maybe, we should look into a teacher that isn't so booked. I just have to figure out how to do it without hurting his feelings. He's doing great! But I don't want him to run himself down to the hooves."

Author's Note

The classrooms expand in size for better pony learning, yay!

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