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

The underground theater was way too stuffy. I tried to see around the night pony foals fidgeting in front of us, but at least the moss gave off enough light. Though honestly, I wasn't sure you could even call this a play.

The shadow puppets wobbled back and forth - they were supposed to be night ponies, I thought. Someone moved pictures of forests and mountains behind them. Then this huge chicken shadow loomed over everything, and all the foals actually screamed. Huh. Maybe Celestia wasn't the only one freaked out by chickens.

"Ah have no idea what's goin' on," Bright whispered.

Summer leaned over to me. "I think they're on some kind of journey and now they're fighting a giant chicken monster," she said, but she sounded as confused as I felt.

"This is lame," Hannah grumbled, sliding down until I thought she might fall off the bench. It creaked super loud.

"Ya get what ya paid for," Bright said with a laugh.

"We didn't pay anything..." Hannah stopped. "Oh."

"Just try to enjoy it. I mean, it's... different?" I watched as the shadow ponies fought the chicken in ways that real ponies definitely couldn't move.

One of the little night pony foals spun around and glared at us. "Hush! You're interrupting the show!"

"We're being rude. Be quiet," Summer whispered, like she wasn't talking too.

The show got even weirder. The ponies somehow beat the chicken and went into these spooky woods. A bunch of black birds - crows or ravens or something - swooped down to attack them. The shadow ponies ran back and forth screaming until another pony showed up and made the birds calm down. But then - get this - a regular-sized squirrel appeared and all three of them completely lost it and ran away. The foals were cracking up. I was definitely missing something here.

Then everything went wrong.

The world twisted sideways. There was a squirrel right in my face, but not like the shadow puppet one. This squirrel had glowing red eyes and made this horrible scratching noise that hurt my ears. It wasn't just scary - it was evil. And it was trying to attack me!

I jumped back so hard I almost fell off the bench. Then it was gone, just like that. My heart was going crazy.

"Ya okay, Turnip?" Bright asked. I could hear the worry in his voice.

"Maybe this... super exciting... play got to him," Hannah said, trying to joke but I could tell she was concerned too.

I looked everywhere but the squirrel was gone. "You guys didn't just see a squirrel?"

"Yeah, the shadow one the heroes ran away from." Hannah gave me a weird look. "You're really getting into this."

All the night pony foals were staring at me now, which made everything worse. I dropped my voice super quiet. "I think I had another vision."

"Of a squirrel?" Hannah asked like I was nuts.

"A really evil squirrel," I said, my voice shaking a bit.

"How do you know it was evil?"

"It was trying to kill me!" I whispered back.

"A squirrel wants to kill you?" Hannah's voice cracked like she was trying not to laugh.

"Sssshhhhssshh!" One of the night pony foals was really mad now.

Bright frowned. "That's two visions real close together. We gotta tell the professors."

"Yeah, we should go tell them," Summer agreed quickly.

Hannah rolled her eyes. "Fine. Not like the play was any good anyway." She muttered under her breath, "Bet we wouldn't see killer squirrels at the waterpark."

The shadow puppet people kept going with their show. Now the heroes were getting sucked into some giant hole with all the scenery.

We left the theater and headed back to the hotel. Professor Sweetie Belle was in the lobby, drinking tea and reading a newspaper.

"Professor Sweetie Belle, Turnip had a couple of visions," Summer said way too loud.

Sweetie Belle put down her tea and paper, raising an eyebrow at Summer. "You might not want to announce that so loudly."

Summer's ears and tail drooped. "Sorry."

"No need to get downtrodden about it, just be more mindful," Sweetie Belle said with a smile. "Turnip, come tell me about your visions."

I walked over to her table. "I had two. First there was this weird machine thing covered in runes. And then there was a squirrel."

"A squirrel?" She looked as confused as everyone else had.

"I know it sounds weird, but it was trying to kill me!" My voice squeaked a little. "It was really dangerous!"

She blinked. "Alright, let's accept that at face value. I know a bunny that can be downright nasty—not a killer, but still very mean, so I suppose a killer squirrel isn't out of the question, even if it seems like a fairly small threat. Tell me more about this device."

I told her everything I could remember about the first vision. Summer, Hannah, and Bright jumped in with stuff I'd told them that I'd forgotten to mention. Sweetie Belle just sat there listening.

When we finished, she made this weird grunt. "I've never heard of anything like that. Something that big would be talked about if any academic knew about it. You didn't see anything in the vision about where it was?"

I shook my head. "It filled up the whole room, but I don't know where the room was."

"Well, wherever it is must be huge to have a room just for that thing. And it'd need lots of power too," Sweetie Belle said, thinking out loud.

"Maybe it's from the future?" Summer suggested. "It looked really complicated."

"Maybe..." Sweetie Belle said slowly. "Though I didn't hear anything about electronics. What you described doesn't sound like it uses advanced technology, but that might've just been out of sight."

"Ya think somethin' like that's real?" Bright asked.

"It could be," Sweetie Belle said carefully. "You'd need a really good mage and engineer to build it - might not even be the same pony... person... Actually, it might be human-made. They're better at making complicated machines, and they are more likely to consider ideas ponies have not."

"So it's somewhere on Earth?" My stomach felt weird thinking about that.

Sweetie Belle nodded. "I'll ask Professor Newman. She keeps track of Earth stuff and she's good at finding secrets. If what you saw exists, it could be really dangerous. We need to look into it."

"Why would anyone make something like that?" Summer asked.

Sweetie Belle frowned. "Whatever those spells are for, it can't be good. If it exists, it's dangerous for everypony. The princesses need to know." She looked at the big clock on the wall. "Good thing you all came back. We need a class lesson. Stay in the hotel while I get everyone else back here."

"How are you going to do that?" I asked.

She went to the front desk and talked to the night pony working there. They went out a side door and came back a minute later, nodding. Sweetie Belle thanked them and came back.

"All taken care of. The chasm guards will tell everyone to come back," she said, picking up her tea again. “Maybe you should take a few minutes to wash up. It might take the class some time to get back here, depending on how far they wandered.”

“Did ya pay the guards ta keep track of us?” Bright asked.

Sweetie Belle blinked. “Well, as much as anyone pays. They have sales tax and such to fund that sort of thing. So, in as much as I spent money here. I paid them. I simply let the town constable know that we would have a class of about thirty students wandering about and to keep a general eye on them. They don’t want any tourists getting hurt or lost. I actually had a little bit of a scare earlier when they reported they lost track of Lunar Light, but they found him wandering around some of the deeper caves later on. That foal is hard to keep track of, so I shouldn’t be shocked that he managed to slip even their notice. At least he wasn’t hurt, even if he was wandering further than I prefer.”

“I suppose a wash wouldn’t be that bad. Still wish we had gone to the waterpark,” Hannah said dejectedly.

Sweetie Belle smiled. “But then you would have missed out on authentic night pony shadow plays, and those are a rare treat!”

Hannah gave her a flat look. “Whatever you say, professor.”

“Someday, I will have to expose you to experimental blackbox theater. You foals don’t get enough exposure to the arts,” Sweetie Belle continued.

Hannah turned and headed to the stairs. “Yep, definitely need that bath.”

“Or perhaps a trip to Bridleway to see a proper musical!” Sweetie Belle persisted.

Hannah groaned.

“I wouldn’t mind seeing a musical,” Summer said, seeming like she was trying to placate Sweetie Belle’s feelings after Hannah’s rejection.

Sweetie Belle gave her a gentle smile. “Kind of you to say. I know all theater isn’t for everypony, but I think everypony should at least give things a chance. I actually have an ulterior motive for wanting to go see a Bridleway play. My daughter graduated from our school just last year, and she got a job with one of the theater companies there. She’s only getting bit parts and a few understudy positions at the moment, but everypony has to start somewhere. I want to get a chance to go see her perform on the big stage.”

“Oh, I didn't know you were married,” Summer said.

Sweetie Belle gave her a baffled look. “Married? I’m not married, and never have been. My sister has always been hung up about wanting to be married to her prince charming, and I know Applebloom has a wonderful marriage, but it’s not really my thing.”

Summer gasped and blinked. “Sorry, I just assumed…since you have a daughter.”

“There are plenty of single parents out there,” Sweetie Belle replied. “Both my parents are living and my sister still was the one that practically raised me, with them only showing up on holidays. Rarity did a fine job on her own.”

“You had both your parents and they weren’t involved in raising you?” Summer asked in shock.

She gave Summer a gentle smile. “At the moment, your father isn’t involved with parenting you. Do you doubt that he loves you just because he isn’t as involved right now?”

Summer shook her head. “I know he loves me.”

“Good. and I personally think that it is good that students get to come to a school and live away from their parents,” Sweetie Belle continued. “This is the part of your life where you really develop who you are, and I don’t think you should live it in your parents’ shadow. Forgive me for saying this, but I personally think your mother should give you more space, even if she is well-intentioned. Living with my sister, I did get influenced by her, as growing up with my parents before that influenced me, but it gave me more freedom to figure out who I was away from my parents. We should have many influences. This school gives you a chance to get those. You are surrounded every day by ponies of diverse backgrounds, and you come in contact with cultures you might never have experienced otherwise. That let's you chart your own course for your life and not just be a copy of your parents.”

“This school is for Equestria’s future leaders, not the followers,” I said, reflecting back on Professor Newman’s words.

Sweetie Belle nodded. “Yes, and leaders have to learn to think for themselves, and that includes forming their own identities independent of their parents. I have lived my life helping ponies find out who they are. Aiding in self discovery, that is my ambition as an educator—to give students every tool I can provide for them to find themselves, not to dictate to them who they are or should be.”

She set her tea aside. “I disagree with many things the Headmaster has done. I think he is too harsh, too demanding, but I don’t disagree with the fact he has broken the same tired mold this school has been in for too long. We need change, and to have things shaken up. We need to stop churning out carbon copy mages who are barely discernible from one another in their skills and beliefs. We need something new.”

“Will he really dismiss a third of the class at the end of the school year and send ‘em home or is it bluster?” Bright asked worriedly.

She sighed. “I don’t doubt he will. Keep your grades and performance up, so you aren’t on the chopping block.”

I wasn’t likely in danger of that, considering I was linked to a truestone and someone, somewhere. had a vision concerning me. Hannah and Summer were fairly safe as well—Hannah for the sane vision as I featured, and Summer because dismissing the school’s only kirin student might upset the kirin tribe. However, Bright was someone who could be in danger. I needed to make sure I always helped him study. I didn’t want to to have him go away.

“What about the squirrel?” I asked.

Sweetie Belle blinked. “I have no idea…just be wary of squirrels, I guess.”