So it was that Starlight had three smiling creatures in her office, each with their eyes on her in complete attention.

Silverstream spoke first. "We've been working really hard! We all got our magic fingers!"

Smolder offered a smug smirk as she gave a little bow. "Done with your best lessons, now we want something new."

Ariel bobbed her head. "We're all ready. We can control our magic fingers really well."

Starlight turned an ear to the side. "So, no Ocellus?"

Ariel blinked at that. "Ocellus can already use unicorn magic, remember? They don't need Creature magic lessons."

Starlight curled a hoof to her chin. "Point. If they're not interested, not much lost there. Okay, if you're all serious about this, let's begin. We'll start with the alphabet. Not A through Z, mind you. Magic has a different one. I'll show you them with my horn, and you'll copy them with your magic finger. Once you learn these, and can replicate them properly, you are officially on your way to becoming a spellcaster."

Silverstream giggled, eyes alight. "I'll have a magic horn too!"

Ariel chuckled at that as she shook her head. "Not literally." She hugged Silverstream with one arm. "Let's go."

Smolder thumped the chair she was in. "Yeah, let's get started."

Ariel folded her legs under herself, adjusting so she could be comfortable. She curled a finger through her pendant's chain, not touching the crystal.

Starlight floated over a book and flipped it open to reveal strange runes. "Here they are, but written down, they're just squiggles. The letter 'Q' means nothing until you know how to read and say it too, right? So let's learn how to say these." She pointed to the first letter, and her horn began to shine. She trailed along the letter and her horn's light shifted subtly with each. "I'm doing a sweep first, just so you can see the differences. I'll go back, promise."

Ariel squinted at the air as Starlight showed off the first rune. It was one of those things that looked like nothing until you knew what you were looking for. At a glance, one could swear they were all the same in her glow, but each was different. She held her crystal, trying to imitate some of those letters for herself. The changes in her own color were obvious, as they did not match up perfectly to the ones Starlight was making.

But they were attempts, and Starlight approved with a gentle clap of her hooves. "There you go. You're not there, yet, but you're on the right path. Back to the first one." She pointed at it. "It has a name." Her horn's glow shifted to that first one. "And it's very useful in a lot of spells."

So the class began in earnest. Smolder's puffs of fire were the loudest thing as she did her best to follow along in her own way, with the hippogriffs focusing on their crystals. Each time, Starlight returned to that first letter, making sure everyone could make it well. "Good, you all have a fair grasp on 'A'. But now B." She slid her hooves to the second rune. "Don't rush. We won't finish this today, but each one you get down is a victory."

She moved on to C, D, E. Silverstream was quick to grasp these, almost getting F before anyone else. Ariel was amazed. "How are you getting these so quickly?!" She was still on C, which she felt so close to. "I'm amazed!"

Smolder was still on B. "Ugh, controlling my breath this exactly is hard!" She frowned at the fire she was blowing. It was missing a subtle change in hue for that letter.

Ariel moved around Smolder to hug her from behind. "Don't get frustrated. We're all learning, together." She rubbed Smolder's back soothingly. "You'll get it."

"Thanks." She relaxed into Ariel's touch, grateful for the contact. "B!" She puffed her fire in a controlled burst.

Starlight applauded. "B! Very good. If you can do that again, you have it."

Smolder waited a moment, before repeating the attempt, noting the subtle difference she had to make in the heat of her flame. But she did have it, and with a triumphant smirk, she went on towards C. The three of them made steady progress for the day until they were all quite tired from all the magic practice.

Silverstream stretched her arms out. "That was fun!" She reached over to pull Ariel into a hug. "I didn't know bringing you would get me into magic lessons! You're like the gift that keeps on giving." She nuzzled her fellow griffon intently. "I'm so happy you're here!"

Ariel hugged back tightly. "I'm happy I'm here too! There's just, something about Equestria that feels right to me." She offered an arm to Smolder to join in the hugging. "And thank you for being patient. I know this is hard work. I hope you're having a little fun?"

Smolder eyed Ariel before shrugging. "It's alright. Kinda like wrestling, but more fire." With a laugh, she stepped into the group embrace. "This is fine. Very nice. A good day."

Ariel chuckled along with her as they all pressed together. Starlight coughed gently. "You all did quite well. Here." She floated over a smaller book to each of them. "It has the alphabet in it. Feel free to practice the runes you know now. Don't bother with the ones you don't. It's hard without having an example in front of you of a unicorn actually doing it."

Silverstream picked up her book. "You won't teach us more?"

"We'll need another lesson," answered Starlight, holding up a hoof. "But that won't be today. You're all tired. And you have other classes tomorrow. We'll meet up in three days, so practice what you've learned until then. Practice is the biggest part of magic anyway."

Ariel looked over her own book. "Thank you for all your help. You're a really good teacher." She hugged her book close. "I'm so excited right now!"

Starlight flattened her ears back at the compliment. "Aw, thanks, but it's nothing. This has been interesting. I'm usually just a guidance counselor, not a teacher. It's a new thing."

"New is fun!" Silverstream clapped as she did a little dance on the spot. "Thank you for making this new for us!"

The three headed for the door together, each looking satisfied with what they had gotten out of the day's work. They made it into the hall when Ariel slowed. "Huh? Oh, right! Starlight said something about Ocellus earlier." She looked around, unable to find her missing friend. "Should we show her what we learned?"

Silverstream tilted her head. "We don't need to." She smiled softly. "Ocellus figured out how to do unicorn magic already, and the pony stuff is, just, stuff."

Smolder shrugged a wing. "Yeah. If she wanted to know about creature magic, she'd have been there."

"Okay." Ariel's tone seemed to imply she wasn't entirely sure of that, but the topic was dropped.

They walked back to the dormitory together, each carrying their books.

Gallus and Yona were deep in conversation. Yona looked up as the three would-be spellcasters came in. "Hello!" She waved excitedly. "Talk Gallus. Still mad."

Gallus crossed his arms. "Yeah, I'm 'still mad.' It isn't fair. Why don't griffons have any magic?!" He let his wings droop. "And Smolder gets magic too now? It's just Yona and me that can't."

Yona shrugged gently. "Yaks not magic. Yaks still great. Yona not worried."

Gallus shrugged along with her. "But I am! Don't you care?"

Yona grabbed Gallus in a powerful hug. "Care about you. Not care about magic for Yona."

Gallus blinked as he was squeezed. "Oh." He pushed at Yona to get some air back in his lungs.

Ariel joyfully joined in the hugging, nuzzling at Gallus. "Aw, don't be sad!" She didn't mind the struggling Gallus. "It's not your fault you don't have magic! You're just fine without it."

Gallus dropped low and popped out of the hug circle. "Cut that out. Look, it's easy to say that!" He made a sharp cutting motion through the air with a wing. "It doesn't mean it's true. Magic is amazing. And I can't do any."

Yona sniffled loudly as she rose up onto her hooves. "Can do good stuff without magic."

Ariel frowned with thought. "Well, hm. Think back, really hard. Have griffons ever had a story about any kind of griffon magic?"

Gallus narrowed his eyes in a sour glare. "They haven't." He tossed his head back to send his blue mane rippling. "They've had their share of treasures, but most of those are long gone, and I sure don't have any, so that's not gonna happen."

Ariel slumped as her idea fizzled out. "Well, okay, what do you have? Your flight, your eyesight, your claws and beaks!" She hopped up to tickle Yona with her own talons.

Yona laughed and rolled over, soon hugging Ariel above her. For all the drama happening with Gallus, she seemed perfectly happy as she was.

Smolder went up to Gallus. "Straight talk. You know I'm good for that." She punched Gallus on the shoulder. "You want magic? Whatever, let's figure it out. You have to have a magic finger wedged in you somewhere. We just have to figure out where it's hiding."

Gallus grumbled faintly, but he couldn't help but grin. "Yeah. Yeah! Smolder's right!" His smile faded. "But where do we even start looking?"

Smolder rolled her shoulders. "Tons of books in this place. Get researching."

Silverstream leaned against Ariel with a soft sigh. "We just got some." She waved the slender tome that Starlight had given them. "Could start there?"

Ariel hummed in thought. "Maybe. What do you think?"

"It might be useful?" Silverstream held it up and shook it slightly. "Maybe they put some notes about griffon magic in here?" She smiled, nodding her head eagerly. "It's worth a look!"

"Yeah, I doubt that." That didn't stop him from grabbing the book and turning away, tail flitting agitatedly. "Let you know." He retreated to his bunk and got to reading.

Smolder snorted. "At least he's stopped sulking." She folded her arms as she watched him for a moment before turning away. "Now, I want to practice. I'll be ticked at myself if I went through that effort and didn't get to the part where I do something."

Ariel grabbed Smolder and hugged her close. "That's awesome! Good luck! If you want any help, let me know." She waved her own book. "I should do that too. I want to get to the actual spells." The two ended up sitting side by side, eagerly practicing with flames and a crystal.

Gallus followed their example, going through his book, looking for anything he could make use of. He was grumbling as he read, not liking any of it. "This is all about unicorns and stuff," he moaned out, flipping to the next page. "None of this is going to help me."

Yona snuffled around him as she watched, ready to assist if need be, but looking helpless to come up with a concrete idea to offer him. "We find the magic?" She patted his head with a hoof. "Yeah. Yona and Gallus together." She couldn't help, but she wasn't about to leave him alone.

Gallus flipped forward, just to stop suddenly. "There's a poem in here. Like, one of those things somepony read you to sleep when you were a chick." He let the book flop onto his bed. "But this one's about magic." He tapped at it with a talon. "Magic magic, up above, in that space I'm still learning to love."

Silverstream looked over from her own crystal glowing, brow furrowing. "I think that's pretty."

"It keeps going." Gallus scrunched his beak. "But it doesn't mention a horn, specifically." He folded his arms. "This may sound crazy, but maybe it might help, you know, trying to follow it?"

Yona clapped as she nodded rapidly. "Yeah! Try!" She wiggled closer to him, practically laying on top of him as he tried to sit up straight.

Gallus shoved at her with a laugh. "I'm on it, but you stop being on me, sheesh."

Author's Note

Magic is being learned! Gallus doesn't like being left out though.

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