An Earthling Earth Pony at Celestia's School of Magic: Year One

The majority of fourth-year students hadn’t returned to their dorms. It was quiet, and I couldn’t help but wonder if the feel of the place was being impacted by the fact someone had died just a few floors above. I knew that was silly and superstitious, but I couldn’t help but feel it. Even though we didn’t see Hail Storm, we kept quiet, fearing that we might alert him that we were following him.

I kept my ears on alert for any talking. The theory was that he was here to go into the deceased professor’s room, but there was always the chance he was here for a student. I never heard anything as we ascended the stairs to the top floor and finally came to the final stairway that led into the shadowy, open room. We all looked at each other and crept up the stairway.

The fireplace was unlit, though the curtains were still closed, making the room extra dark. I couldn’t see my muzzle in front of my face.

The fireplace suddenly ignited in a flash, and I jumped in shock.

“It’s just me,” Summer said, sounding exasperated. “We needed light.”

“Where’s your coltfriend?” Hannah asked as she looked around.

Summer looked around as well. “I don’t know. Maybe we were wrong, and he didn’t come here.”

“Or he’s hiding because he doesn’t want to get caught,” Hannah suggested.

“He wouldn’t hide from-” Summer began.

“Closet, there,” I interrupted, pointing to a closet door that was cracked just barely open. I had heard something move within just a second before.

Hannah bore a smug grin as she walked over to the closet. “Hiding in the closet? How predictable can you get? Come on out. We know you’re in there.”

“No, I’m not,” came the reply from within.

Bright gave the closet an incredulous look. “Come on, dude. Do ya really think sayin’ that was goin’ work? Now ya just embarrassin’ yerself. Come out.”

The door opened the rest of the way, revealing Hail Storm. There wasn’t much in the closet other than him, only a large closed trunk that Hail was doing his best to block the view of.

“What’s in the trunk?” I asked.

“What trunk?” Hail replied, raising his tail and spreading his wings to obscure our view of it further. Sweat was starting to appear on his head. There was a misconception on Earth that humans had the most sweat glands of any creature. They certainly had a lot, but two creatures exceeded humans in number of sweat glands per inch—ponies and their closest native Earth relative, horses.

Summer stepped forward. “Hail, what’s going on? Why are you sneaking into Psychic Calm’s office? Why are you trying to hide that trunk from us? What’s in it?”

Hail glanced back at the trunk. “It’s…it’s…”

“It’s something that doesn’t concern foals.”

We all turned to see Headmaster sitting slumped in the corner. I was sure he hadn’t been there just a moment before, but he looked like he had been sitting there for a while. He looked tired and sad.

“Hail Storm, you know better,” Headmaster said as he slowly got to his feet, using his staff for support.

“But, uncle-” Hail Storm said through tears.

Uncle? Headmaster was his uncle?!

“And you know better than to call me that,” Headmaster said with an exasperated shake of his head. He looked at the rest of us. “Keep that relation confidential, or I will be very displeased. Do not ask Hail Storm to explain it. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir,” we all hastily replied.

He looked back at Hail Storm. “Step out of the closet and close it. Those aren’t for you.”

“You don’t know that. Nopony knows until I-” Hail Storm protested.

Headmaster raised his staff and slammed the butt of it on that floor. “Enough! You are too young to try. It is improbable any would react to you anyway. Maybe in a few years, we can try, but that will not happen today. Now step away from the closet and shut it, or you will leave this school tonight and never return.”

Whatever this was, this was no minor issue. Was Hail Storm trying to steal something from Professor Psychic Calm? What did he mean by any would react? Any what?

Hail stood his ground. “It was unlikely any would react to you, but here you are. I should get my chance.”

“Eventually you will, but not now,” Headmaster replied. “Final warning, or I will be forced to tell your parents you have been expelled. Do not think you being my nephew protects you.”

Hail Storm reluctantly stepped out of the closet and shut its door.

“I know you are unhappy, but the slam was unnecessary and juvenile,” Headmaster chided.

“I am a juvenile, or so you want to regularly remind me,” Hail Storm said bitterly. “Would have really hurt for me to see? You said it yourself; none of them will probably react to me. Even if one did, I would be satisfied knowing it was waiting for me, and I could wait. If none did, then at least I would know that and be able to accept it. He was going to let me try.”

“I don’t know why he even revealed to you that he had them. I’m going to find a much more secure and secret location for them after today,” Headmaster said, sounding even more exasperated. They must have been talking about Psychic Calm, but I was still confused about what was in that trunk.

Hail Storm glared at Headmaster. “Do we even know they’re in that trunk? Maybe Psychic Calm was murdered, and they’ve already been stolen.”

“They have not; they were the first thing I checked when I found out he passed away,” Headmaster answered. He let out a long breath. “I see this is going to be a point of contention that will become too much of a distraction from your studies. You say you will wait and be patient if one reacts and that you will also accept it if none do. Do you mean that? Can I hold you to your word, or is your word worthless?”

“My word is good!” Hail Storm said, defiantly spreading his wings.

Headmaster gestured with his staff, and the closet door opened; the trunk levitated out and landed on the floor in the middle of the room.

“Then let’s end this distraction now,” Headmaster announced. “All of you present can gaze upon them and touch, and if nothing reacts, then it is done with, and there will be no questions. If anything does react, you must wait until you are ready for answers, although I promise those answers will eventually come. Do I have the agreement of all the foals here?”

“We don’t even know what’s being discussed,” Hannah protested.

“And you will know little more after today. Do I have your agreement that if anything reacts, you’ll be patient waiting for answers, and if nothing reacts you’ll put this matter to rest and never discuss it again?”

“Ah agree,” Bright said.

“Me too. I don’t want Hail to get in trouble, but this seems important to him,” Summer said.

I looked at the trunk and back to Headmaster. “I’m going to wonder what this is all about, no matter what, even if I keep quiet about it, but I promise not to discuss it or seek whatever is in that box out if I see it today.”

“Turnip, there’s a time an’ place to be honest and plain ‘bout that kinda stuff, this ain’t it,” Bright whispered.

Headmaster frowned. “You will be troublesome during your stay here, I can already tell. Still, that counts as your word, and I will accept it. If you break it, if any of you break it, you will not be attending this school any longer once I find out—and I will find out if it happens. You could blame my rash nephew for dragging you into this, but you stuck your muzzles where they didn’t belong, and you will be held to account if any word about what you discovered here leaks.”

He didn’t allow us to respond further before gesturing with his staff, causing the trunk to open wide. Hail Storm practically sprinted to it as soon as it did.

“So eager for what is likely disappointment,” Headmaster observed as he leaned against a wall. “Please be quick. I don’t want to be here.” He rubbed his arm absently. “It feels filthy being here. It feels like sacrilege. None of us should be here.”

I watched Hail rummage through whatever was in the trunk. He seemed to be taking his time at it, and there appeared to be multiple objects within, although I couldn’t see what was within. Headmaster could see with his human height, but he seemed only to be giving the objects within a minimal interest. He just looked uncomfortable, and his eyes were bloodshot. I believed him when he said he didn’t want to be here, and I wondered why he was here and not some other faculty member. Someone among the faculty must have noticed Hail Storm or us and said something, but why wasn’t one of them taking care of this? The obvious answer was that they didn’t know about this trunk, and Headmaster didn’t want them to discover it.

“Were you close to Psychic Calm, Headmaster?” I asked.

He looked at me and frowned. “You ask so many questions. It is none of your concern.” He looked at Hail Storm. “I think you have gone through everything in there at least twice, if not more. I saw no reaction. Now honor your word and forget about this.”

Hail dejectedly stepped away from the trunk.

“Your turn, Summer Blaze,” Headmaster instructed.

Summer jumped. “Me? I don’t know anything about this.”

“And once you have had your turn, you won’t have reason to wonder what’s in the trunk and try to find out,” Headmaster said. “Go check the trunk. Touch everything inside at least once. Step away if nothing happens after touching everything and let the next person take their chance.”

“And if something happens?” Summer asked worriedly.

“You’ll step away and agree to wait until I say you’re ready to find out more, which may be years from now,” Headmaster answered. “It is unlikely anything will happen. Take your turn so we can move this along and get out of here.”
.
“But why am I second?” Summer asked.

“Because I said so. Move it along,” Headmaster instructed.

Summer went up to the trunk and looked in. “It’s just a bunch of weird-looking white rocks.”

“Very astute observation. Now, touch every one of them so we can get this over with,” Headmaster ordered.

It only took her a few seconds to do as instructed. “Um…okay, I did that.”

“Now step away so Bright Pear can try,” Headmaster instructed.

“Ya remembered ma name!” Bright exclaimed.

“Your name is going to be mud if you don’t hurry up and take your turn,” Headmaster said with annoyance. “Touch every stone, and then let Turnip Jones try.”

Bright hurried and did as instructed. Nothing seemed to happen, so he stepped away from the trunk. It was now my turn.

I walked over to the trunk and looked in. There were indeed about a dozen odd-looking white stones thrown haphazardly within. They were all perfect alabaster white, and every single one had either rounded edges or straight lines for edges, but none seemed jagged or broken. None of them even looked like they were fracked or missing any chips. Shapes tended to be geometric but like they had been melted or flattened, and sizes ranged from no bigger than a pebble on the small end to about half the size of my head on the larger end.

Fearing I’d get snapped at for taking my time, I started touching stone by stone, beginning with the larger ones. I continued at a fast pace until I got down to three remaining stones, all small. Then, something happened as I touched a little one that looked like a bent pyramid.

“Damn it, Jones, why do you have to be such a troublemaker?!” Headmaster said as he hurried over to the glowing stone my hoof was touching.

I withdrew my hoof, and the light went out. “I just did what you told me to do!”

Headmaster looked even more annoyed as he bent down next to the trunk. “Indeed you did. Sorry for snapping at you; it was unfair of me. This is just another complication I would rather not have had to deal with and had honestly thought there was no chance I would be dealing with. Which one was it? Which one reacted to you?”

I pointed. “The bent pyramid one. It was also warm to the touch.”

Headmaster nodded and grabbed the stone, depositing it in a pocket within his robe. It never lit up or anything else as he handled it.

“I’ll explain this to you, I promise, but that won’t be anytime soon. It will likely be years from now, even if I have to track you down on Earth to do it, but I will explain it and give this stone to you when I do. However, you aren’t prepared to deal with this yet. Never tell anyone who isn’t currently in this room that this stone reacted to you. That goes for the rest of you as well. You could be in grave danger if the wrong people knew you had seen these stones. You, in particular, Mister Jones, would be in great peril if the wrong people found out a stone reacted to you. Guard that secret with your life because that may be what is at stake,” Headmaster said as he stood back up. “You don’t need to touch the others. Only one will ever react to you. Step away and let Hannah Moonbow take her turn. Hopefully, she won’t be as troublesome.”

I stepped away, thoroughly confused about why a rock lighting up when I touched it was a big deal. Hannah eagerly stepped forward to look within but frowned as she gazed upon the contents.

“I thought these might be artifacts of some sort, but they just look like normal rocks, and you need crystals to make proper artifacts. I never heard of it being done or possible, but are they artifacts made of intact geodes?” Hannah asked.

“Miss Moonbow, have you ever wondered what being last place in your class rankings is like? Just keep asking questions rather than doing what you are told, and you needn’t wonder,” Headmaster snapped.

Hannah gulped and immediately started touching the stones one by one. Her ears sagged as she touched the last one, and nothing happened.

“Artifacts are supposed to be my thing,” Hannah said mournfully.

“Forgive me if I sound like I don't care, but I don’t. Life is full of disappointments,” Headmaster said. “Off with you all now. I have to figure out where I am going to secure this trunk. Do not speak a word about these stones to anyone. I am willing to expel any of you that do—that includes you, Hail Storm, and don’t think for a second that your parents will be able to plead your case to me and make me reconsider.”

We all exited the room and returned to the next staircase before we dared speak to one another about what had just happened.

“What were you thinking?!” Summer demanded of Hail. “Stealing from Psychic Calm’s office? Are you insane?!”

“If a stone reacted to me, it would be mine, so it wouldn’t be stealing,” Hail replied.

“No, you don’t own any of those things. They were the dead professor’s…or the school’s…or…I don’t know, but they don’t belong to you,” Hannah said.

“How did you even know he had them? What are they?” I asked.

“So…we ignorin’ Headmaster’s threat to expel us for talkin’ ‘bout this?” Bright asked nervously.

“We aren’t talking about them with anyone who wasn’t there, and we won’t,” I replied.

Hail looked around as if confirming no one was around, then dipped his head and whispered. “I saw them being given to Psychic Calm. I knew what they were because I have seen them before. My uncle has one; it is embedded in his staff. The rest of that staff is just for show; all the power is in that little stone. It amplifies his magic power, and it amplifies it a lot. They only give their full power to one user, and that user is predetermined, but you never know who it is until the stone reacts with that user; anypony else trying to use one can only use a trickle of the power or none at all.”

“And you wanted to have your power amplified,” Summer surmised.

“I’d be the strongest magic student on campus if I had one,” Hail replied. His ears then sagged. “But none reacted to me. It was a tiny chance. They only react to one person each out of everycreature alive—ponies, humans, griffins, dragons, even diamond dogs, or anything else intelligent that can use magic…that’s billions of possible creatures with each stone. To have one react to you is like a one in a ten billion chance. I still wanted to try.”

“Which is why Headmaster was so confident that none would react to us,” Hannah said, then looked at me. “Except, Turnip turned out to be the one in ten billion chance. That’s unbelievable that happened. It seems like it would be an even lower chance than one in ten billion that one of those users would find their stone, especially since they were hidden away.”

“Unless somethin’ was pullin’ some strings,” Bright said.

I recalled something. “A while back, Professor Newman told me that Hannah and I had someone recommend us as students. She never said who, and it wasn’t clear why they wanted us here, only that Professor Newman took it very seriously. Could this person have known something?”

“No stone reacted to me,” Hannah reminded me, throwing a wrench into my theory.

“Kinda crazy that one of them stones found its way to Headmaster if the odds are that bad,” Bright observed. “An’ now there’s two that them stones found here at this here school, Headmaster and Turnip. What kind of odds are those?”

“Practically impossible,” Hannah said thoughtfully. “You’re right. There has to be some other force at work. Hail, are you sure they work that way?”

Hail nodded. “When my uncle got his stone, Princess Twilight was there on my dad’s ship, and I overheard-”

“Eavesdropped!” Hannah challenged. “This sounds like a conversation you weren’t supposed to hear.”

Hail shuffled in place. “Well, it’s not my fault if they didn’t do more to hide the conversation from being overheard by ponies below in the ship’s cargo hold.”

Bright looked around. “Like us? We’re talkin’ about this in a stairwell. Anypony could be listenin’ on a lower floor, just outta sight.”

Summer looked fearfully around. ”We need to end this conversation now! I’m not getting expelled over this. Headmaster will eventually explain it all to Turnip. We don’t need to figure it out.”

There were nods all around. I hated it, but she was right. I would get my answers, just not when I wanted them. I was going to have to be patient.

Still, for some reason, I longed to touch that stone again soon.