Scholar Arc
Month 3, Day 25
Atlas knocked on the door to the teacher's office. After class he was stopped by Emerald Forest, who told him to come by the office later since she had something to discuss with him. He had been attending her classes for almost two months now, his skill and knowledge with magic steadily increasing. According to Amethyst he could be considered an average unicorn by now. Thanks to his almost religious study of the magical practices he had mastered a wide variety of basic spells.
Since he was always well behaved during class, he was sure that his teacher didn't call him to her office to scold him; which in turn made him wonder what this was all about. Maybe there was another crazy researcher who needed to run some tests.
Apparently they had run almost every imaginable test on him twice, sometimes thrice, which had caused his daily interruptions to come to a stop about three weeks ago. A development Atlas was most certainly happy about.
While he was musing about his newly gained freedom the door opened, a stallion with a deep blue coat and a white mane sporting a goatee standing in it's frame.
"How can I help you?" The stallion asked.
"Uh hi, I'm supposed to be meeting with Emerald Forest."
"Alright, she's over at her desk," the stallion responded while making way for Atlas. "Come on in."
Atlas thanked him and stepped inside. He scanned the rather spacious room filled with desks and bookshelves until he spotted the pristine white coat of his teacher. He made a beeline for her desk, passing various other teachers who slaved away over mountains of paperwork, assumably homework or tests from their students.
"Miss Forest?" Atlas addressed her once he was close enough.
Hearing her name seemed to break the focus she had on the paper in front of her. A quick look towards the speaker and a flash of recognition appeared on her face.
"Ah, Mr. Atlas, please take a seat." She replied.
She levitated a chair from the other side of the room over to them and placed it in front of Atlas, who took her offer.
"Just give me a moment, I'll be right with you."
Emerald Forest started organizing the mess on her desk by forming the scrolls and papers into neat stacks. It was honestly an impressive display of multitasking since she must have manipulated at least twenty different things at once.
"Now, Mr. Atlas," she reverted her attention back to him. "Do you know why I called you here?"
"Honestly? No." Atlas answered. "Does anypony need me for more tests?" He added with a raised eyebrow.
"No, no. Nothing like that," came her half chuckled reply. "It's about your major."
Realization dawned upon Atlas at her words. Every student had to pick a major for their three years at the academy. Most of the students just picked a field of interest within their respective affinity. A system which didn't really work with Atlas, or any other unicorn with multiple affinities .
"Since you're a somewhat special case, we've allowed you some extra time to decide. I believe you were hoofed a few booklets detailing the different majors that are open to you?"
"That’s correct.” Atlas replied.
Shortly after he started taking regular classes, he was given some booklets detailing the majors and such, which he had studied just as diligently as his homework. The problem that presented itself to him was that there were just too many subjects to pick from. Most of them interested him greatly and he'd like to pursue their paths, but alas, he could only pick one. A decision he was now fighting with for almost two months.
"Well? Have you decided on what you'd like to do?" Emerald Forest asked with interest.
Whatever Atlas picked, would most likely be big news for everypony. Since they expected great things of him, they most likely expected him to revolutionize the field in some way or another.
"Not yet," he replied. "I've whittled them down to three possibilities but have yet to make the final decisions."
"Well, whatever your decision may be in the end, your time is running out. I will need your filled out papers by the end of the week." Emerald Forest jotted something down with a levitating quill. "Every other student has made their decision last month, and we're currently in the process of writing up the class schedules."
"I'll be sure to submit it by then," Atlas responded while mentally making time to go over the booklets again.
"Very well," Emerald Forest nodded. "In the meantime, can I help you in your decision making in any way? Is there anything unclear or do you have any questions you'd like to ask?"
"Just..." Atlas began a little unsure. "...if it turns out I don't like what I picked, will I be able to change it later on?"
A big reason he hadn't decided yet was because he felt like once he did, he'd have to stay committed to whatever he picked. Magic was a literal dream come true for him, so he wanted to learn as much as he possibly could, without being stuck on the same subject for years.
"You will, students get a chance to switch their majors at the start of every new school year." Emerald Forest explained. "You'll of course have to catch up to class in whatever you switch to, but it's as easy as submitting a single form."
Atlas simply nodded in acknowledgment.
"Well then, is there anything else I can help you with?"
"No, that would be everything," Atlas confirmed with a shake of his head.
"Alright, you're dismissed." Emerald said with a small smile.
"Thank you for your time."
Atlas rose from his chair and left the room. Since his classes were over he planned on grabbing a bite to eat and then hitting those booklets. He didn't have a lot of homework, so he'd most likely be able to cram it in before bedtime.
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The little blue and red Hacky Sack left Atlas's left forehoof on its journey towards the ceiling. It hit the target with a resounding 'fwhump' before gravity pulled it back down. He caught it with his right forehoof before repeating the process.
Atlas was currently lying on his bed, playing with a Hacky Sack he crafted during precision training of his levitation spell a month back. He garnered a few odd looks for it, since most ponies couldn't do much with such a soft ball due to their physiology. While he had to agree to some extent and he could only play with it while lying on his back, he found that it helped him better his hoof-eye coordination, as well as providing him with something familiar in this still sort of alien world to him.
"Could you stop that? I'm trying to study here," Amethyst shot from his position at his desk.
"Sorry," Atlas caught the ball one last time. "Didn't mean to disturb you."
He began rolling the ball between his hooves, staring at it but not really paying attention. In his mind, he was currently weighing the pros and cons of the different majors he could take. Since he came back from his quick dinner, he read through the descriptions in his booklet again and again until he could recite them in his sleep. Once he realized that he wasn't getting anywhere with this method, he settled on his bed, eventually starting to play with his Sack.
"You wanna talk about it?" Amethyst asked without looking up from his work.
"Talk about what?" Atlas replied absentmindedly.
"Whatever seems to be bugging you."
"That obvious?"
"Yeah."
Atlas continued to fumble around with his ball for a while before responding.
"It's about my major," he admitted. "Teach says I have to decide before the end of the week."
"You still haven't picked a major?" Amethyst asked incredulously, this time looking up in disbelief. "You had like, two months!"
"Yeah I know!" Atlas sighed. "It's not so easy to decide something like that if you have this much variety to pick from."
Atlas threw the Hacky Sack in the air and let it fall on his barrel.
"Trust me, I know," Amethyst said, redirecting his attention back to his homework. "I could choose from all five schools after all..." He muttered.
Atlas winced at the thought. If he had this much trouble, it must have been even harder for his purple friend.
"How'd you do it?" He asked.
"Threw a dart." Came the reply.
"You threw a dart?" Atlas asked, eyebrow cocked. He pushed his upper body off the bed so he could look at Amethyst. "What do you mean?"
"Whittled the subjects down to a few, hung 'em on a wall and blindly threw a dart at them."
"Did you ever regret picking like that?"
"Nah, if I tried to decide any other way, I probably never would have. I liked all of them about equally."
Atlas hummed in surprise and let himself fall back to his bed. He levitated his Hacky Sack, which had fallen off the bed, back onto his hoof. After a short while of staring at it he started to throw it again, already forgotten about Amethyst's complaint earlier.
He mentally went over the three majors he was debating over once again.
School of Combat - Elemancy.
He always had a fascination with the element of water, since it was so versatile. Especially the aspect of ice, destructive, yet beautiful. Also, combat mages were cool.
School of Manipulation - Transformation.
Of the three majors he was undecided about, this was probably the one with the most practical uses. It not only included transforming stuff but also taught one of the needed basics to enchant objects.
School of Life - Detection
While most unicorns went the path of the medic in this school, a major in detection appealed to Atlas. Unicorns who majored in this were usually used as some sort of x-ray work-around but could also decide to work as a scout for the military.
He chewed on the inside of his cheek while thinking about it once more. Up and down the ball went. Up and down. The sound of it hitting the ceiling and his hoof respectively once again the only sound disturbing the general silence of the room.
"Dude, seriously," Amethyst said, slightly miffed. "Can you stop that?"
Atlas smirked as the small colorful ball hit his hoof again. Apparently Amethyst was beginning to pick up on some of Atlas's somewhat special vocabulary, dude being just one of the many adopted words.
His smirk transformed into a full blown smile as he got an idea. Just like Amethyst had decided with the throw of a dart, Atlas decided to do something similar and choose his major based on his friend's reaction.
Once again, he propped himself up so he could see his target. The Hacky Sack was now levitating next to his head, while he was taking careful aim. Once he was sure his projectile would strike true, he let it sail through the air at a considerable speed.
The ball hit Amethyst smack dab on the left cheek with a satisfying 'fwomp', which caused the purple unicorn to cry out in protest and pain as he comically fell off his chair.
"Aahhh! What did you do that for?!" Amethyst shouted with great annoyance.
Meanwhile Atlas rolled around on his bed, fits of laughter racking his whole body. The scene of the flustered Amethyst just too laughable to not laugh.
"Seriously, what is wrong with you?" Amethyst asked as he got off the ground, dusting himself off.
He waited for a while but got no other answer except for the muffled laughter of Atlas who was pressing his head into his pillow by now. Amethyst just scoffed at his roommate's antics and returned the favor by chucking the ball at the back of Atlas's head before returning to his desk, grumbling all the way.
The pain on his head shut Atlas up right quick, still, a chuckle made it through every now and then. After he calmed down somewhat, he turned around again so he was lying on his back. While it was somewhat mean spirited of him, he now finally had an answer.
"Amethyst?" Atlas asked.
"What?" Amethyst shot back.
"I think I'm going to pick transformation as my major."
"What about your minor?" Amethyst asked after a short pause.
"Elemancy."
"Can't wait to spar with you then."
Amethyst smiled as the realization hit Atlas. Since Amethyst's major was construct magic, they'd probably start sparring with each other sooner or later.
"Don't go too hard on me?" Atlas asked unsurely.
"No promises."
I figured he would pick transformation, since the whole explanation of how it could be used to imbue objects with ze magicz (since he's gonna be trying to figure out runes).
7791633 So did I! For the same reasons!!!!!
Hm, elemancy sounds like something useful; I mean he is going into the military after all.
Not much happening here,I hope there will be more action soon.
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Wait Azriel, as in the Azriel who wrote friendly ac-130 inbound? Well I'll be damned and pissed. He needs to update!
7791633
7791908 And you'd be correct.
7792012 Thanks mah dude :D
7792398
7792603 this line "A shiver went down Alex’s spine. He felt a tingle go from his horn throughout his entire body. If Vibrant was facing towards him, she would have noticed his eyes flash a bright green color for a brief moment. "
my first thought was changelings
...you did that on purpose...
Eww, he plays pokemon sun. Moon FTW
7793665 I swear this just sorta... happened... I'm innocent!
7793745 Fret not, I will start my Moon playthrough soon enough ^^ Also, if you see Nebby, tell him to get the fuck over here. There's a bag waiting for him.
Be careful not to overdo the exposition with these time skips. There were a few moments in this chapter that could use a reminder to "show, not tell".
Dammit! I've caught up with everything, now I have to wait
fav'd n liked
7792826 Speak of the devil and he shall appear...five days later.
7796399 Thanks, mah dude :D
7802607 Yup
7804171 Now go back to writing!
I am real super sandwich!
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Just to let everyone know, my editor doesn't know how to spell sandwich :D
7804220 img.memecdn.com/monster-frisbee_o_7046011.jpg
Tough choice of the 3 major's, all of them seem so good, but Transformation did make more sense since he was curios about rune magic. Enchanting items seems like an necessary ability when it comes to rune magic. I do wonder how everyone will react to this new type of magic. I feel like it's the type of thing that's not bound to unicorns and wars can be fought over it... *cough* *cough*
Oh and I know the feeling about pokemon Sun and moon! Spent way too much time on it, almost done with the region's dex(7 away). Playing the older version as well; need to collect as many of those event pokemon as possible while they are available. Also getting bank ready for when the sun and moon update comes out.
7804283 My friend is completely nuts about Pokemon, he owns both games and has completed the story on both and is currently completing his dex(he has literally one Pokemon of everything from every generation in his bank). Although he did lose his competetive team and all of his(and mine) shinies when his X copy corrupted his save :(
Well, I got my first gen7 shiny yesterday! A shiny minior :D
7804862
Ha, sounds like me. I usually have one of every game, one physical and one digital(gen6 and up). It's impressive he has a "living Dex' not too many people put forth the effort for one. I probably would of had one myself if I didn't loose my Y and Omega Ruby save data. Though this was my fault because I lost my game system.
I consider that one of the best of this Generation and it's pretty hard to get since they can Self-Destruct. I've only gotten a shiny Eevee so far in sun and moon.
Similar to a lasting expulsion of flatulence. Or this comment.
Soooooo... According to your author note this arc will go to chapter 69...
That's right! My inner grade-schooler just hijacked my brain there! What of it?
Well, there goes my hypothesis that each explicit friendship created a new affinity in Atlas, until he got all the way to 6.
hack[e]ysack
See what he did there? ice mages are cool. its funny because ice is cool and mages are......
I'm going to show myself out now
8751384
That was probably the freeze frame...
9713853
Im not familiar with Greek Mythology beyond the basics. So can you explain to me why Atlas is connected to combat magic? Sounds like an interesting story.