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

Where Neighsay was hiding the truestone was easy enough to find. It was in a trunk, covered by one of his curtains. That was all easy. Actually getting the stone turned out to be much more challenging.

"I should have expected this," Inkwell muttered as she examined the trunk.

The trunk had literal glowing chains wrapping it tightly, all intersecting at a circular mass of runes that I didn't recognize at all.

"You can't open it?" I asked.

"Doubtful," Inkwell answered with a sigh. "Artifacts aren't Neighsay's only specialty. He is also very good with binding enchantments and locks. These aren't standard runes. They are custom-made ones. That makes them much harder to decipher how they interact. There are very few ponies who could figure out how to break this lock... and I'm not one of them."

"So... this was a waste of time," I said.

Inkwell snorted. "Not the most graceful way of saying it, but you are correct. There's no way of getting into that trunk. It is dangerous to even try."

"What do we do now?" Bright asked.

"We head back to the auditorium and wait, and announce Turnip won't be of use so nopony tries to pressure him again. Come along," Inkwell answered..

We were halfway back to the auditorium when Stockman came running up to us, looking extremely distressed.

"What's wrong?" Inkwell asked as he reached us.

"She's walking to the Everfree!" Stockman blurted out.

Inkwell blinked. "Who's walking to the Everfree?"

Stockman stomped and flapped his wings in agitation. "Who do you think?! I told her we needed to find him, but she said she couldn't do that. I told her about your suspicion and she just took off! I tried to get the guards to stop her, but they said they had no grounds to restrain her. You need to do something!"

Inkwell took a step back in shock. "What? Why would she do that? That's beyond dangerous!"

"You know her. She doesn't care about her wellbeing. She just sees something that has to be done and goes out and does it. She's always been like this. You need to go stop her before she gets hurt!" Stockman insisted. "She's no Element of Harmony or any other type of great hero. That forest is going to eat her alive!"

"I'm... I'm sure she has some sort of plan... She always has a plan," Inkwell replied, still seeming in shock.

"It doesn't matter if she has a plan. If a timberwolf gets her, she's still dead. Go do something. I can't drag her back on my own. If anything happened to her... just help me, please," Stockman said, near tears.

Inkwell covered her mouth. "I don't know what to do. She can't have gotten far on foot, but the plundervines are already in the city."

"Who ya talkin' 'bout?" Bright asked.

"Professor Newman," Inkwell said with a mix of exasperation, worry, and fear. "She's apparently decided to deliver the message herself or try to reason with the Heart of the Forest on her own... I'm guessing the latter."

"But... doesn't she lack any spellcasting ability? No offensive capability at all?" I asked.

Inkwell closed her eyes. "We have to trust she has a plan. She's going to be alright. She's going to return to us safely, and I'm going to give her a piece of my mind for worrying me like this." I wasn't sure if she was telling me that or talking to herself.

Stockman stared at her in shock. "You aren't going to help? I thought you and she had something together with the way you fawn over her! She's going to get herself killed! If you aren't going to help, I'm going to go find someone who will!"

Inkwell scowled and lit her horn. "No, you won't."

A magic shield surrounded Stockman. He banged on it then gave her a death glare. "You can't maintain this forever. You'll have to let me go."

Her horn sparked, and Stockman immediately fell to the floor. What... what just happened?!

Bright stepped back in fear. "What ya do? Did ya kill him?"

"Don't be so dramatic," Inkwell chided. "I put him to sleep. The princesses are going to give me a sentence for this for sure, since using sleep spells on ponies without their permission is illegal, but I had no other choice. He was going to charge after her and get himself hurt. I don't just have a duty to protect students. I have a duty to protect everypony at this school, including him. I don't know what Professor Newman is thinking or planning, but I know she is outside my reach and all I can do at this point is trust her—but believe me, if she had tried taking off out there while she had been right in front of me, I'd have done the same thing to her. I can endure her anger at me for the action. I can't endure seeing her get hurt."

"But... you said you broke the law," I replied, still in shock at what she just did and how calm she was about it.

"Students, you're at this school to learn to make the hard choices and the tough calls. This is one of those. My other options were trying to restrain him indefinitely—which he correctly guessed I couldn't—or letting him go. I wasn't going to let him go, so that left this. I hope the princesses understand my reasons and are lenient with me as a result, but if they choose a harsher punishment, I will accept it."

"They aren't going to make you step down as a professor for this, are they?" I asked.

"I won't speculate on that. It isn't important right now," Inkwell replied. She looked out a window. "Please, stay safe, Charlotte.”

"What ya goin' ta do 'bout him?" Bright asked, pointing at Stockman's sleeping form.

Inkwell gave Stockman a passing glance. "Leave him where he is. He'll wake up in a few hours with a mild headache. With luck, this entire ordeal will be over by then."

I looked at Stockman, who seemed to be sleeping soundly. He seemed to have been really attached to Newman. I hadn't realized they were that close. Why didn't he try to bring Newman back on his own? She might be a great strategist, but she didn't really have any way of fending Stockman off. He should have been able to do it. She might be nimble on her feet, but he was a grown stallion who could fly. Worst case scenario, he could have made himself enough of a nuisance she would have no choice but turn around. Why'd he need Inkwell's help? I doubted Inkwell would tell me if I asked. She'd already given me a lecture about how she would guard others' secrets. This felt like something that should just get a repeat of that lecture.

As we walked back towards the auditorium, Bright looked at Inkwell.

"Is Professor Newman goin' ta be able ta deal with the Heart?" Bright asked.

"I don't know," Inkwell said, voice strained. "She can talk her way through a lot of things, so she isn't the worst negotiator, but she also tends to use her talking to incite rather than to calm. That means she isn't the best negotiator either."

I remembered her duel with Headmare Cinch. Yeah, she spent a lot of time provoking the headmare. She did take a nicer tone at the end, but that was after Cinch had already conceded, not during the duel. The Heart was coming for a fight—a fight with Princess Celestia. It seemed unlikely it would even care about any attempt Newman made to negotiate.

"We have to trust there is a plan," Inkwell repeated.

There was a sudden loud bang and crash.

"What was that?!" I asked, hunkering down.

Inkwell frowned and looked at the window. "I presume that's the plundervines reaching us. Let's get in the auditorium, quick. Ponies are going to be panicking."

"Uh... should we still be leavin' Stockman sittin' unprotected in the hall?" Bright asked, looking back the way we came.

Inkwell let out a long breath. "I think he'll be alright, but just in case, you two go grab him and bring him to the auditorium." She then continued down the hall.

"By ourselves?!" I asked.

"It's less than fifty ponylengths! You'll be fine!" Inkwell called back.

Bright stared at her departing shape. "Ya know, if she just told us ta pick him up and take him with us ta start, we wouldn't hafta do this now."

I thought about her reading earlier. "She's under just as much stress as the rest of us. Let's just get him and get back to the auditorium. It's not that far."

There was another crash and slam outside that made us both flinch. We didn't discuss it further; we galloped back to where Stockman was.

As we reached our goal, Bright lit his horn and his aura engulfed the sleeping night pony. "He's too heavy. Ah can't carry him far like this. Ah'll lift him on yer back instead."

There was another crash; it seemed to be much closer to us this time. I was very tempted to look out the window to see what was going on.

I bent down to make it easier for him. "Hurry up then. We need to get moving."

Bright hoisted Stockman on my back and tried adjusting him so he wouldn't fall off. Stockman's weight was negligible for me, but he was still much bigger than me, and I needed to be careful, otherwise he'd fall off.

There was another crash, much louder and closer than all the previous ones. I turned to look and froze. A big black thorny vine had broken through one of the windows down the hall and was slithering into the hall like some giant snake. I wanted to scream, but was too shaken to do so. The trees were sending out their limbs to suck the blood from us just like they stole the water from the ground.

"Move it, Turnip!" Bright yelled.

That was all the prompting I needed. I took off, ready to escape the viney horror. I needed to get to the safety of the auditorium where there were no windows that those things could get in! Bright yelled something else, but I couldn't tell what. I just needed to get to safety!

Something hit me hard in the face, and I fell to the ground. What? What just happened? I touched a hoof to my muzzle. Was my nose bleeding?

"Get up! You dropped Stockman! We need to help Bright get him!"

I looked up and saw Lunar Light standing there, horn lit. He wasn't looking at me as he fired off a series of horn blasts past me. What was he doing here? He was supposed to be in the auditorium.

"Get your head screwed on! The vines have Stockman!" Lunar yelled, still firing blasts and not looking at me as he spoke.

I looked back and gasped. A vine had grabbed Stockman's leg and was dragging him back down the hall. Bright had his horn lit and was trying to pry Stockman out of the vine's grip as Lunar's blasts continually pelted the vine.

"I know you are afraid, but that doesn't matter right now! My blasts are barely doing anything to this thing, and Bright isn't strong enough to break the vine's grip. We need you to get up and help!" Lunar yelled.

Go back towards the vines? Could I even do that? I saw Bright's aura engulfing the end of the vine that had Stockman by the leg; it didn't seem to be doing anything. Lunar's horn blasts were connecting with the vine every time, but the vine wasn't even flinching. Before long, Stockman was going to be pulled right out the broken window.

Trembling, I got to my feet. That vine wasn't going to get him! I didn't know what I could do, but I wasn't going to let the trees get someone! With a loud cry, I charged towards the vine.

After running back to Stockman, I bit down on the end of the vine that was encircling Stockman's leg. It tasted extremely bitter, enough so that it made me want to puke, and one of the thorns dug into my face. I pulled and, with Bright also still pulling with his magic, we managed to get the vine to release Stockman. Lunar immediately started bombarding the end of the vine with blasts as it released, which seemed slightly more effective than his previous blasts at the thicker parts of the vine that were further back. Bright immediately took action, trying to get Stockman back on my back.

"Hey, Apple colt, you need to use your horn to keep him secure on Turnip's back as Turnip runs. I'll try to keep the vine back," Lunar instructed.

As soon as I had Stockman secure again, I started running, this time making sure I felt for his weight. Lunar kept firing blasts non-stop. That had to be using a lot of energy. How long could he keep that up before he wore himself out?

There was a sudden sharp cracking sound like a whip, and Stockman's weight vanished from my back.

"Turnip, Lunar, help meh!" Bright called out.

I turned to see that two more vines had appeared and grabbed hold of Stockman and Bright by their legs. Lunar had already turned his blasts to those vines, but they seemed to be having no effect. I froze, staring. What could I do? I couldn't pry both of them free, and the original vine was still there, ready to grab anyone that got close!
"Let them go!!!"

A large black and red shape came running through the hall from the direction of the auditorium. It took me a second to register that it was Spring Fling in full nirik mode, completely engulfed in flames. She ran straight by me and Lunar towards the vines. She bucked the one that was gripping Bright and the vine seemed to scream as it released Bright and whipped backwards burning. Spring continued and did the same with the one holding Stockman with the same result of a screaming and burning vine retreating. The original vine, as if suddenly aware of the blaze, started retreating as well.

Spring looked back at us. Her eyes white hot with no signs of pupils. "Get them out of here, now!" She then turned back and continued her fiery assault on the vines, forcing them further and further back.

"I can get Bright if you get Stockman. I think we can go slower this time. Summer's mom seems to be a match for the vines," Lunar said as he lit his horn.

Bright stood up. "Hey! Ah can walk on mah own! Help meh get Stockman back on Turnip's back."

They got him back in position and we started moving again—this time a little slower, despite the screams of the vines behind us. I kept my eyes forward and didn't look back.