Sixth Class: Rarified

The zebra boy’s warning weighed heavily on Twilight’s mind as the wagons approached the dormitory buildings. The coming ordeal… What does it have to do with me? What could it be, anyway? These questions and many others raced around the inside of her skull, occasionally bouncing into each other, but that only gave rise to new questions, none of which she had any answers to. Oh well, she thought with a sigh. No sense dwelling on it when there are more pressing matters. She hopped off the wagon after it came to a stop, giving one final glance to the zebra, who simply walked to the boy’s dorm as if nothing had happened.

Pinkie Pie, of course, hopped off into the girl’s dorm happily, unaware of Twilight’s wariness toward her. Twilight sighed and approached the girl’s dorm as well.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Spike asked from atop her back.

“Hmm?” Twilight craned her neck to look at her dragon companion. “What would that be?”

“Where do I go?” he said. “Do they expect me to stay in the girl’s dorm?”

“I guess I hadn’t considered that,” Twilight admitted. “They did say we’d all be assigned a roommate, so I just sort of assumed we would be roommates, like we were back at Celestia’s School.”

Spike sighed, bringing a palm to his forehead. “Seriously? It’s not like you to forget to consider something like that. It’s, you know, kind of a big thing.”

“Sorry,” Twilight said. “with my training beforehand, and all the stuff going on during the trip here, It just sort of slipped my mind. I’ll ask about it, okay?” She trotted up to the door to the girl’s dorm, where a mint-green coated unicorn mare sat behind a desk with a levitated list and a sign stating, ‘Questions? Ask the prefect!’

“Excuse me?”

The mare looked up from her list, bleary-eyed and yawning. “Oh, hey, you’re an incoming freshman, right?”

“Yes, that’s right,” Twilight replied. “Anyway, I have a question about the living arrangements for me and my companion here.” Spike waved from atop her back.

“Okay, just going to need your name...s.” she said, blinking a few times.

“Twilight Sparkle, and Spike the dragon.”

The minty mare scanned her list for a few moments before her eyes seemed to settle. “Yup, we’ve got the two of you listed together. Oh, wait, you won’t be alone. I guess, due to your unique situation, you get a quad. Pretty rare for a group of freshmen to get one of those.” She pondered something for a moment. “Twilight Sparkle, huh… That name sounds kinda familiar… Ah, right! I heard from some contacts back at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns about you. You hatched the dragon egg, huh? Guess that would be you, eh,” she said, nodding to Spike. “That task wasn’t even supposed to be passable. It stumped me for a while. They’d have let you in even without completing it, of course, since the school couldn’t turn a profit without accepting students.”

Twilight stared for a few seconds, her jaw agape. “You were at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns?” she was finally able to ask.

“Yeah, and I was able to do a fair bit of magic, too. Unfortunately, it wasn’t my own magic I was using. Once they had me examined in that respect, I kind of got tossed out for using ‘stolen magic,’ which I guess is actually a thing. That’s when the Foundation picked me up, saying my magic was coming from demons, and I needed to be able to better control it. Three years later and here I am, top of the Demon Artist class. Not that there’s a whole hell of a lot of us, but meh.” She noticed Twilight’s jaw once again hanging limp. “Oh, right, I totally forgot to introduce myself! I’m Lyra Heartstrings. Like the sign says, I’m a prefect, so you can come talk to me about stuff, if you need help. And, from a fellow Celestia’s-School-Supernatural-Ejectee, I’d like to extend a warm welcome to you.”

“T-thanks,” Twilight stammered.

“I guess talking to you woke her up some,” Spike whispered.

“Anyway, lots of work still to do, haven’t slept in three days. You’re in room 137. Got a look at your other roomies.” Lyra paused for a moment. “Well, you’ll see for yourself. Your key is in your acceptance envelope. Don’t worry, we made sure everyone’s got theirs,” she said as Twilight pulled at her saddlebags. “Good luck!” she said with a wave and a yawn.

Twilight thanked her and entered the building. “Okay, that was a good catch, but I guess we got a lucky break,” she said.

Spike gave her a critical glare for a moment, but eventually shrugged, his expression loosening. “I guess it’ll all work out. I wonder who these roommates of ours are going to be.”

“I don’t know. Let’s hope it’s a pleasant surprise,” Twilight replied hopefully. She took a few more steps after these words before a door to her left burst open and a red pegasus slammed into the wall to her right, trailing fire behind it.

The pegasus stood with little difficulty, brushed herself off, and apologized to Twilight for the accident. She sneezed and a small jet of fire shot from her nose, very nearly singing Twilight, who just barely had the presence of mind to dodge it. “Ugh… Damn allergies,” the pegasus said irritably before walking back into her room.

“As long as we don’t get one like that,” Twilight said with a nervous laugh before moving on. “Anyway, let’s see here. 129, 131, 133, 135… Here we are, room 137.”

“Home sweet home,” Spike said reluctantly. “Shall we?”

Twilight telekinetically turned the handle and pushed open the door to her new home. Two faces were immediately upon her, one of them happily familiar.

“Hey there, Twilight,” Ginger Snap said with a grin. “So you’re our third roommate? Guess we’ve got a little bit of luck after all.”

“Ginger! I was hoping I’d be able to catch up with you.” Twilight turned to the second, unfamiliar pony. “Hello, I’m Twilight Sparkle. I guess I’m your new roommate.”

The other pony, a unicorn with a carefully styled violet mane and a pristine white coat, regarded her critically for a moment. “A pleasure. I am Rarity.” Her eyes gravitated to Spike, who had been fussing over a small bag of snacks he was trying to pull from Twilight’s saddlebags. “Oh, I was unaware that the Academy allowed pets.”

“Excuse me, but who’s a pet now?” Spike said, finally extricating the snack bag and turning to the offending speaker. His annoyed expression softened almost immediately. “Oh. Hi,” he said meekly.

“Oh, I’m sorry! I just saw you with Miss Sparkle and I assumed… Well, you have my deepest apologies. What’s your name?”

“Uhm… I’m Spike,” he said, his face scales glowing slightly redder.

“So you’ll be our final roommate, I take it?” she concluded.

“Y-yeah, I guess I will be,” he said with a nervous chuckle. “I, uh, hope that won’t be too inconvenient.”

“Oh, not at all! I simply love meeting new creatures, pony or otherwise. I hope for a good year with all of you, and to commemorate out meeting--” She paused, went to a bag, and pulled out a trio of jewelled necklaces. “You’d all look simply marvelous in these,” she said, draping the necklaces over Twilight, Ginger, and Spike’s necks.

They all just stared, awestruck, at this sudden gifter.

“Is something wrong? Is such gifting unacceptable in your society? You must forgive me, the clan did not give me much opportunity to interact with other ponies,” Rarity said, slumping slightly, a disappointed look in her eye.

“Ah, no, they’re beautiful!” Twilight said quickly, smiling when Rarity regained her smile and posture. “It’s just that… well, I don’t think ponies of any culture normally give gifts this extravagant at a first meeting.”

“They don’t,” Ginger said, eyeing Rarity carefully.

“Hey, come on, Ginger. Ease up on her,” Spike said, his tone not without a trace of bitterness. “Seriously, she gives you a really nice gift and you look at her like the butler in the kitchen with the lead pipe.”

Ginger shook her head. “You said ‘clan.’ No modern equine culture uses that as their primary descriptor of the family group.”

“Beg pardon?”

“You weren’t raised by ponies.”

The room was silent for a moment, before Rarity sighed and patted her mane with a hoof. “I suppose there’s no use in hiding it. It’s not something I’m incredibly proud of, per se, but you are correct. I was not raised amongst other ponies. Not for most of my life, at least.” Twilight and Spike looked between the two with their jaws dropped. Rarity continued. “It happened shortly after I’d received my Cutie Mark, it must’ve been almost seven years ago. I’d just unearthed a cache of gemstones when I was abducted by a pack of diamond dogs. They’d been watching me for a few days after I stumbled through their territory, and when they saw what I was capable of, it seemed they couldn’t resist as valuable a resource as myself.

“At first, I was little more than a slave. Life was a living hell, searching out and digging for gemstones in a dirty underground cave. Before too long, though, I started bargaining with them for better treatment in return for my cooperation, and, with a little perseverance, they complied. I kept up the same tactics for three years, until I was, quite literally, the ‘top dog’ of the pack. They eventually made me a queen of sorts, as I was bringing them greater fortune than any other diamond dog clan in this hemisphere,” Rarity finished, her eyes blazing with a sense of victory. She then seemed to startle herself, her statuesque pose becoming more humble. “I must apologize. I always seem to get myself riled up when I talk about my past.” She rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof. “In any event, my clan has a custom of gifting those of equal stature to ourselves a gift such as what I gave you. I thought it would be a fitting gesture, as we are all to be living together under one roof, at least for the next year.”

All were silent again for a moment.

“Okay,” Ginger said with a shrug. “Sorry if I seemed a bit paranoid. I get like that sometimes, at least when confronted with something new. I’ve been burned too many times in situations like that, so it never hurts to be cautious.”

“You weren’t like that with me,” Twilight said.

“I suppose I wasn’t, but you didn’t really stand out as being potentially dangerous.” She was met with suspicious glances. “Hey, come on. Combine an unfamiliar scent with an inconsistent speech pattern and boom. My suspicion is entirely justified.”

“I don’t… I don’t smell bad, do I?” Rarity asked, her eyes glistening with the beginnings of tears.

“Wha-- No!” Ginger responded emphatically, waving a hoof wildly. “I just mean, your spirit energy doesn’t smell like a normal pony’s, that’s all! My powers make my senses all weird, so I can sort of smell spirit energy.”

“Oh, well, in that case…” Rarity began.

“On the subject of powers,” Twilight interrupted, trying to lighten the mood, “what kind of powers do you have, Rarity?” She looked to Ginger, who gave her a sheepish smile.

“Hmm… Well, according to my letter, I’m something called an Artificer. I’m not entirely sure what that means, to be perfectly honest. My advisor in the clan said it was some kind of legend among dogs, something called a ‘Great Maker.’ I’d always thought it was some kind of creator deity or some other mystical nonsense whenever I’d heard it referred to before. My guess is that there were a number of famous diamond dog Artificers who became heroes of a sort.”

“Oh, yeah, in the underground supernatural community, diamond dogs are pretty famous for their number of Artificers,” Ginger said. She then lowered her head and her voice, putting a hoof to her chin in thought. “Unfortunately, that fame turns to infamy when you consider how many of those same Artificers turn to the demonic side. Anyway,” she said, brightening back up, “I guess it’s a pretty incredible twist of fate that you turned out to be one. Or maybe the earthly energies made you develop into one. The entire system of who gains powers and who doesn’t is a little odd, I’m still trying to work it out myself.”

“Fascinating,” Rarity said. “I never thought others my age would know so much about this new and fantastic world.”

“Actually, Ginger’s a bit of an exception,” Twilight said. “I personally didn’t know I even had powers until just a couple of weeks ago, even though my ESPer powers are generally considered the more obvious powers. It’s a little amazing you had a frame of reference to your own powers without knowing you had them, even if yours is one of the most subtle.”

“You seem to know an awful lot about other powers, for somepony who claims to have only discovered your own mere weeks ago,” Rarity said skeptically.

“Well, it’s all there in the manual,” Twilight said, rummaging in her saddlebags for the guidebook. She finally managed to pull it out, and opened it to the Artificer page. “Yup, it’s all right here. ‘Artificers have the innate ability to craft physical objects: wards, talismans, and circles, and infuse them with their own spirit energy. Ultimately, Artificers are virtually unlimited in their versatility, often able to accomplish feats to rival the most powerful magics.’ Well, okay, maybe subtle isn’t a perfect description, I guess Artificers’ items just aren’t as blatant as, say, slinging psychic fire around.”

“I see your point,” Rarity said. “But that does clear up what exactly I’m expected to be able to do, at least to some extent. Now, what about you three? You said you were an… ESPer, is that correct, Twilight?”

“Yeah, that’s just a fancy descriptor for somepony who slings around psychic fire, in addition to other effects like reading minds, seeing the future, or levitating things with my mind.”

“I see. And Ginger? What sort of powers do you possess?”

“I’m a Breath Stealer. Basically, if I see somepony with a power I like, I can forcibly take it from them. It seems that it’s not a very pleasant experience for those I take power from, so I’ll try not to drain you guys if I can at all avoid it,” Ginger replied sheepishly, trying her best to hide her teeth.

“I... very much appreciate that,” Rarity said with a nervous smile. “And what about you, Spike?”

“Eh? I don’t…” Spike hesitated for a moment, then lowered his head in shame. “I don’t actually have any powers… I’m just here as Twilight’s assistant.”

“Spike, I… I’m sorry,” Twilight said, the very air in the room seeming more sober. “I never even considered--”

“It’s okay, I decided to come with you, and even if I hadn’t really wanted to, I probably would’ve anyway,” he said, putting on a weak smile. “I mean, you’re really the only family I have.”

After a few more moments of silence, Ginger spoke up. “You’re wrong.”

“Wait, what do you mean, I’m wrong?” Spike asked.

Ginger stepped over to Spike, placed her snout against his forehead and inhaled deeply. “You’re not powerless. You may not have developed anything obvious yet, but I can tell. There’s a small spark in there, inside your soul, just waiting to be awakened. I don’t know when it’ll happen, but you can take pride in the knowledge that you have powers. And that you aren’t here by accident.”

“G-Ginger… Thanks,” Spike said. A small, but still strong and genuine smile replaced the weak one he had been wearing.

Ginger strode back to the other side of the room, placing her bag on the bed in the corner. “We’d better get our things in place quickly, so we can grab something to eat. I don’t know about all of you, but I haven’t eaten anything substantial since yesterday,” She said cheerfully, giving Spike a discrete wink.

“Ah, yes. Food does sound wonderful right now,” Rarity said, hurriedly going back to unpacking.

Twilight turned to Spike. “You’re okay, then?” she asked quietly.

“Yeah,” Spike replied. “I’m good now. Thanks. Honestly, that was exactly what I wanted and needed to hear.”

“Good.” She patted his shoulder with a hoof. “One of these days, I’ll get the older sister role right. Come on, let’s get unpacked and get to the cafeteria.”

“Right,” Spike said, setting to work. He looked down at his clawed hand with a smile, and said to himself, “I wonder what it’ll be.”

Author's Note

GOD DAMN THIS TOOK A LONG TIME.
Sorry about the wait, kiddos, I just get writer's block something FIERCE sometimes. Hopefully I'm back in the swing of things.
Hey! We finally get character backstory, if only for a character that was just introduced. I hope I pulled this fate-twisted Rarity off okay. Diamond Dogs! She lives with Diamond Dogs! She's QUEEN of the Diamond Dogs! Well, damn.

Well, only one major character left to introduce before we get into the meaty plot of the story. Did I save the best for last?
Stay tuned to find out!
Professor Plaz OUT!