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

The auditorium was less packed than it had been during the orientation. I did a quick count—five students grouped together near Professor Dawn, two more to Inkwell's left made seven, there were three more standing in front of her to bring it to ten, and two more strays a little further back. That was a count of twelve students, not counting us, which made it sixteen. There'd been four more fourth-years outside, so nineteen students in all. It looked like the remainder of the fourth-years were listening as Professor Dawn gave them instructions near one of the side doors. The ones huddled around Professor Inkwell next to the stage must have been second-years since the students outside had said they hadn't seen any third-years. There were what looked like two sets of parents with those. The kitchen staff, the second and fourth-year groundskeepers, and Baxter Stockman were all also present, but they were hanging back near the top seating, watching and listening—probably just trying to stay out of everyone's way. The only voices were those of the professors, who spoke briskly, giving instructions—the louder of which was Inkwell's, but that was probably because she was on stage and had the best acoustics. The second-years and their parents seemed to range from anxiously pawing their hooves together to cowering as they listened to her. Equestria may have had yearly crises, but that didn't seem to make the anxiety any less for the locals as the danger headed towards them.

Not knowing what else to do, and because all the younger students and their parents seemed to be doing it, I decided to go check in with Professor Inkwell. My friends and Hannah's parents followed me, with Hannah's mother still lugging Bright along on her back like a sack of luggage.

Inkwell paused what she was saying and gasped as we approached. "Bright Pear! Is he alright? Did something happen?"

"The colt is just having some emotional shock, no injuries," Hannah's dad explained. "Are you in charge here?"

Inkwell looked at Professor Dawn and sighed. "Seems I have to be. It is just the two of us here, and my colleague is focused on our defenses. That leaves me to deal with non-combatants."

"There's going to be fighting?" Summer asked, ears flattened. She then looked at the fourth-year students. "Students are going to fight?"

"We hope not, but we have to be prepared," Inkwell answered. "The fourth-years have had several years of magic defense classes by now, so if there is fighting, they'll be utilized. They've trained for this, but I'm sure Professor Dawn will do her best to keep them out of harm's way unless there's no choice. We aren't going to have any younger students do anything but stay sheltered. You are too young and inexperienced to help with the defense."

"How much real danger is there?" Hannah asked.

Inkwell shook her head. "I honestly don't know. The Everfree has gone on the attack before, but it has always stalled in Ponyville. It completely overrunning a town and heading this way is rather unprecedented, and it seems barely interested in Ponyville at all. It must be really peeved. I would have thought it would have stopped once it overran New Eden, since New Eden is likely the source of the forest's anger, but clearly, that isn't enough to satisfy it.”

"Why are dese woods mad at a town?" Hannah's mom asked. "You act like dey think."

"As I explained to these other students, the Everfree has been under attack from New Eden for some time. They've been using slash and burn tactics to try to push the forest back for their settlement. The forest has been growing in other directions to escape them, but I think we all anticipated it was going to strike back eventually," Inkwell explained. "As for sentience... it is hard to say. There is some sort of animalistic intelligence to it. The only true sentience is if... no... they couldn't have done that..."

"Done what, professor?" one of the second-years asked.

Inkwell sighed. "The Heart of the Forest, that has sentience. If they threatened the Heart with their slash and burn, it would take immediate response. It would be a violation of the treaty."

"Treaty? What treaty? Treaty with who?" Summer asked.

"The treaty with the forest, promising it would be forever free. It is a very old treaty, made with a creature that hunkered down in the woods ages ago—over eight hundred years ago, if I'm not mistaken. We promised not to disturb it. The forest grows out from it, marking its territory. Ponies are not allowed to tame the forest. Typically, it will just shift the forest growth if ponies start encroaching, maintaining its acreage. It has moved many times, but the Heart's core area is never disturbed. If they attacked the Heart, that would definitely peeve it off. It would go looking for the pony that made the treaty with it—Celestia," Inkwell explained. "Given how much time has passed and how much the forest has shifted, it is hard to pin down exactly where the Heart is. I doubt the princess remembers where it is, exact details like that are hard to remember after eight centuries. If she did remember and this is the case, she'd never have let New Eden settle so close.”

"You didn't have maps of this?!" a different parent asked in disbelief.

Inkwell scowled at the mare. "I'm sorry, have you ever tried to read a map that was over... say... two hundred years old? You might make out a few locations, but the coastlines and scaling are rotten. We haven't even completed a world map of our planet yet, so we have huge blank spaces not far from our borders and general blobs that are supposed to represent land for whole nations we don't know the actual geography for. Do you know the geography of Zebrica? No, you don't, because we have no map, just a blot that says it is across the ocean. We have wilderness territory in our own nation that is basically just squiggles on the map with no details. Do you think our maps were better eight hundred years ago? No, they weren't. They make modern maps look practically perfect. With all that in mind, we have no clue where the Heart of the Everfree is."

"Okay, okay, no need to get so defensive..." the parent replied, stepping back.

Inkwell stomped. "This is why we had to overhaul the whole education system. We weren't advancing. In fact, we are falling backward. We should know where that stupid thing is, but we don't, because we let knowledge be lost and barely learn anything new. If the problem is that we blundered into a situation because we forgot important information, it makes what we are doing here matter all the more."

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "But that's not what's important now. If that is the Heart of the Forest, the alicorns can't beat it back, not without doing more damage than it will, and they won't do that. They have to negotiate with it. That can take time, and that time means we should be certain Canterlot is going to be hit by the Everfree in the meantime.”

"Will the heroes know that is what they need to do? Do we need to tell them?" a second-year student asked.

Inkwell spent a few seconds considering this in silence. "Celestia will realize what needs to be done, but she is here in Canterlot and can't go out there and leave the city undefended. As for those out in the field... Luna may not be aware of the treaty since it was made while she was on the moon, and Twilight Sparkle may or may not know about it. I don't know how to get word to them. I don't even know if I'm correct. If Headmaster were here, he could reach them and get a message, but nopony knows where he is right now."

"What about Professor Newman?" I asked. "She keeps track of everyone. Surely she knows where he is."

Inkwell blinked. "You're right." She turned and looked towards the other gathering. "Luster! I need your aid!"

Luster Dawn paused in talking to the fourth-years and looked to Inkwell. "What is it? Is somepony in trouble?"

Inkwell shook her head. "We need to get Headmaster, and the only one who might know where he is would be Charlotte Newman. You're the only one here that has a hope of safely searching him out. Can you go to the castle, consult with Charlotte, and go find Headmaster?"

Luster Dawn frowned. "That would leave our defenses completely in control of our students if I go."

"I'm not completely useless on that front!" Professor Inkwell protested.

Professor Dawn shook her head. "I suppose not, but you really need more if the forest reaches the school."

Inkwell tightened her lips together and closed her eyes, taking another breath before opening her eyes again. "I will do what is necessary to bolster our defenses, distasteful as some of those options are, but we need Headmaster. Please, Luster."

Luster Dawn furrowed her brow. "Distasteful? What are you suggesting?"

Inkwell licked her lips. "Plants are going to assault us, right? Seems like we need some earth pony magic on overdrive."

Wait... they weren't talking about me, were they?

Luster Dawn gasped and looked at me before looking back at Inkwell. "You can't be serious! He's a first year! He's too young! He's not even been in my class yet!"

Oh, no! They were talking about me! Were they insane! What was I supposed to do?!

"I don't like it, and won't utilize him unless I have to, but you know we have a secret weapon that only he can use," Inkwell replied gravely. "We are here because we can make hard choices. I won't commit him unless needed, but I am keeping the option on the table. If the worst happens, even you might not be able to stand against the forest, and I'd have to be considering this option anyway. Find Headmaster so we don't have to utilize Mister Jones's unique capabilities."

Luster looked at me unhappily for a moment, then sighed. "Fine... I'll bring Headmaster back. I hope the castle guard doesn't give me too much of an issue. You better prep Turnip before shoving him into action."

Rocky walked up beside me. "What are they talking about, Turnip?" he asked me. "Have you been holding out on us and have some special magic? Wouldn't be shocked to hear it. Always was kind of weird that you were a student here."

I couldn't answer him. I had nothing in the way of special magic on my own. No, the only thing they could be talking about was giving me my truestone and hoping that would boost me up enough to do something. I'd never done anything with that stone. Could it make that much of a difference?

"Turnip's not allowed to talk about it," Hannah informed him. I knew she had to guess it was the truestone, even if she knew next to nothing about what a truestone was or what it was capable of doing. I'd never told my friends any details about truestones, only that people desired them and would hurt me or foalnap me to get mine. However, she and my friends did know it was a big deal.

"Well, you seem to know. Am I not as special as you?" Rocky protested.

"They found out by accident. They aren't supposed to know," I told him, coming to Hannah's rescue. In truth, I didn't even know what I was capable of doing with the thing. I only knew that it was power.

"And none of you will be given any further details. You only need to know that your friend might have an ability we can utilize if the need comes. I hope it does not. Professor Dawn is right; he is completely unprepared and untrained, and this would be putting him directly in harm's way. I won't casually risk a student like that. He is a last resort option, only to be used if our defenses are failing," Inkwell informed us as Luster Dawn started giving some final instructions to the fourth-years.

"Hey!"

We all looked up to the top of the seating to see Baxter Stockman had stood up and started walking down towards us.

"The pink unicorn can stay here. I'll go to the castle with the message. They'll let me in," Stockman said. "The professor can stay here. We don't need to start talking about throwing some kid with no training into trying to defend this place."

Luster Dawn gave him a doubting look. "They'll let you waltz into the castle during a crisis? You? I'm the personal student to Twilight Sparkle. They'll let me in. I don't see why they'll do the same for you.”
He frowned at her. "They'll let me in."

Luster stomped. "I'm not trying to be elitist or contrary here! I'm not like that! The castle is going to be on lockdown. This is a legitimate concern. We can't have someone wasting their time by going there only to be turned away. If you have a reason they'll let you in, great, but explain it to us so we know that we aren't wasting time."

Stockman gave a nervous flap. "I can't give a full explanation. If I have to say something... I'm an individual under special protection by the crown. I can retreat to Canterlot Castle at any time for my own protection."

"He did say he was the Queen of Nightmares' little brother. That probably counts as important to protect," Hannah reminded them. Stockman looked relieved as she said it.

"Well, he could have just said so. No need to be all mysterious," Luster Dawn replied. "Hurry up and get that message to Professor Newman so we can get Headmaster back here and get word out to Princess Twilight about what we suspect is going on."

I watched Stockman make his way to the exit. Something didn't seem right. Why had he looked relieved when Hannah spoke up? He might be the Queen of Nightmares' brother, but there was some other reason he was protected, one he didn't want known.