Ponies were waking up all around Canterlot as Celestia rose her sun, bathing the building and streets with its dazzling light. Outside the weather was getting chilly, as it was the beginning of Autumn, and the colors of the leaves were starting to change. The brilliant hues of red, orange, and yellow filled the courtyard where the foals played during lunch. Occasionally, a leaf or two would fall from its branch, lightly falling to the ground.

A unicorn and an alicorn, a stallion and a mare respectively, stood at opposite ends of the courtyard, staring into each others eyes with a mix of excitement and determination to defeat their opponent. The stallion's horn started to glow. "What are you trying to do, Scotch?"

"Oh, you'll see, Celly," the stallion responded. Princess Celestia felt the ground beneath her hooves start to tremble. Suddenly, she shot forward into the air, propelled by a column of earth. The column's base broke off from the ground and it started to pivot on its end, heading towards Celestia like a hammer about to strike an anvil.

WHOOMPH

The column missed it's target and instead struck the ground, disintegrating into dirt. Damn. She must have teleported

"Hello, Moonshine," the Princess whispered into the stallions ear. He smirked. She had teleported so that she was now positioned behind Moonshine. "Here's a little something of my own." A log of wood came careening towards Moonshine but he was able to evade it easily. Now the two were face to face with each other. The Princess chuckled. Her vision started to get blurry as a mental attack reached her.

All the muscles in her body became limp and now she lay on the ground, like a thrown rag doll. "You really shouldn't let your guard down," Moonshine said, chiding her. Such were duels between the two. Physical assaults were merely to distract the opponent so either one could get into the mind of the opponent. Moonshine let go of the Princess's body and she stood up facing Moonshine

"So, that's my three to your measly two. Which means-"

"Yah, yah. I'm buying coffee," the Princess groaned. "But," she continued, "in whole, I have five-thousand six-hundred twenty-three to you measly five-thousand six-hundred twenty-two." Moonshine stuck out his tongue, mockingly, and they both laughed on their way to the local cafe.

*********************

Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns neighbored the palace. Inside was the faculty and staff bustling about, getting ready for the first day of school. In room two-zero-two there sat a unicorn stallion. His coat was mahogany and his hair was white with a red strip running through it. He made sure that it was combed so that it was neat, not messy like it usually was.

Written on the chalk board in back of him was his name, Mr. Eclipse. He took care not to divulge his first name, Moonshine, as he was a little embarrassed of it. He didn't want his students to lose respect for him the first day and start calling him stupid names like whiskey or beer. In the room were sixteen desks, arrange four-by-four, a bookshelf that held text and children's books, the aforementioned desk, and an aquarium with several varieties of fish.

At his desk, Moonshine was sitting an holding up a letter with his magic.

Dear Moonshine Eclipse,

Hello, Scotch. There has been an extra student added to your class. Her name is Twilight Sparkle and she has shown in her entrance exam that she is incredibly gifted. I hope that this unexpected change does not bother you.

Your loving friend,

Celestia

PS

Make sure not to scare the foals too much with your opening monologue. I can still remember Shining Armor running through the halls screaming, "HE'S A MONSTER!" Speaking of which, Twilight is Shining's sister.

Moonshine chuckled. He remember the incident very well

PPS

We should have brunch Saturday!

At the last line, Moonshine started to salivate. To him, a marigold and tulip sandwich sounded wonderful right now.

"Hi Mr. Eclipse. My name's Twilight Sparkle. Nice to meet you!"

Well speak of the devil. He looked up from the letter and was surprised to see A unicorn filly with an outstretched hoof, ready to shake his. Moonshine set the letter on his desk and looked down. So this is Twilight Sparkle. He looked at the filly with a quizzical look because school started in half-an-hour. "Twilight, you do realize it's seven-thirty, right," he asked as he gently shook Twilight's hoof.

"Yes, but I'm just so excited for my first day of school hear that I couldn't help but wake up early, and then I couldn't go back to sleep so I woke my mother up so she could take me to school, and now I'm here! And besides, I was always told that early is on time and on time is late," Twilight responded with glee. Moonshine could tell this new student, while she would be exceptionally smart, would also be a pain in the flank.

He sighed. "Well, as long as your here, you might as well take a seat." Twilight looked at him confused and asked, "but which desk should I sit at?"

"Doesn't matter. You may choose whichever seat you want."

The desks were arranged in a four by four pattern, Moonshine would only have fifteen students but he hated having an odd amount of desks. Twilight giddily trotted over to a desk in the first row, not to Moonshine surprise, and sat patiently there and read the latest edition of the Daring Do series.

As the time ticked by, other foals started to walk into class and they set up there things at desks, starting in the back as they thought Moonshine might not be able to see them as well and as such they might be able to get away with talking or passing notes. Some seamed like they would rather be anywhere else but school, others still looked genuinely excited for their first day. At eight o'clock sharp, both Moonshine and Twilight closed their books, put them away, Twilight's in her saddlebag and Moonshine's in his desk. Moonshine got up from his chair and walked (could someone please tell me what the equine equivalent is) to the middle of the room and started to speak.

"Welcome, fillies and colts, to your first day at Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. I see that everyone is here, save one," referring to the one empty seat at the front of the room next to Twilight. "Welcome," He paused for dramatic effect, "to your doom." At this, some of the foals started to giggle. Moonshine chuckled himself. "I see some of you take that as a joke. It's not. Those who weren't giggling probobly know my name, and the reputation I've gained. I am -"

Moonshine was inturrupted by the door slamming open as and a white coated filly with an electric blue mane burst into the room. "IM OSORRY MISTERR ECLIPSE BUT I GOT LOST AND THEN I DIDNT KNOW WHICH ROOM TO GO TO SO I ASKED THE PONY UP FRONT AND SHE STARTED TO LECTURE ME ABOUT BEING LATE AND THEN I WAS LIKE "JUST TELL ME WHERE TO GO" AND SHE SAID TO GO HERE AND NOW HERE I AM," shouted the filly.

"Vinyl Scratch, I presume," asked Moonshine flatly. Vinyl smiled back sheepishly. "Just take a seat and I'll be seeing you after class." With her head hung low, Vinyl walked to her desk and sat down.

"Now, as i was saying, my name is Mr. Eclipse. Does anyone in here know my first name?"

Four foals raised their hooves.

"And you will address me as?"

"Mr. Moonshine," the four said.

"Good. Now for our first lesson." Moonshine picked up the chalk resting on the shelf of the blackboard and proceeded to draw a circle with what seemed to have flames rising from the top of it. "Can anyone tell me what this is?" Twilight's hand shot up like a rocket. "Yes, Twilight?"

"It's a soul."

"Correct. And do you know what a soul is?"

Twilight merely shrugged. "A soul is the power that binds and breaks us. It gives us life. You cannot create a soul - except trough the traditional way - and you cannot destroy a soul. It is the most powerful force known to anypony," Moonshine said. "Mister Eclipse, what do you mean by 'traditional way'?" Moonshine simply smiled and responded with, "In due time."

"Everything that you are, everything that you were, and everything that you will ever be is your soul."

"But don't we have brains, Mister Moonshine."

Moonshine sighed. This is an extremely ginger topic to teach young foals as the precise explenation to why souls exist is a bit graphic and gruesome.  "Your brain sends signals to the rest of your body, making it move, but the soul moves the brain, in a sense."

"How do you know that Mister Eclipse?"

"A soul is more of a concept than it is fact. We have never seen what a soul looks like. We only know that without one, you cannot live. We theorize that because we have tried to make life through magic. Unicorns have made a body, started it up, but the result was brain death. There's more to it than that but it is not appropriate to discuss at this age."

The room was silent. Not because they were Shocked or dumbfounded, but because they did not unerstand what they were being told. "How 'bout we talk about something else, shall we? There are two different types of magic, macro and micro. Does anyone know the difference?"

Three hands rose, one of which was Vinyl's. "Vinyl," he called.

"Macro magic is the subject in whole while micro is at the molecular level," she answered. "Correct, Vinyl. When we lift something with our magic," he lifted a small iron block from his desk,"we are using macro magic. If I wanted to break it apart into two pieces, I would use macro magic to grab both ends and pull it like I would if I wanted to rip a piece of paper apart." To emphasize his point, he picked up a piece of paper with his magic and ripped it. "However, this iron block is too strong for macro, so i must use micro." Moonshine pulled apart the iron block through the middle with as little effort as it would take to cut a bar of butter with a hot knife. The foals in the classroom looked amazed. "I actively pulled the particles apart so that I was able to 'rip' it through the middle."

"Not only can I destroy it, but i can also reshape it. Does anybody have any suggestions for what i should do with it?" Several hooves shot upwards. "Colgate."

"How about a little statue of the Princess," Colgate suggested. Moonshine smiled. "Sure." He started to rearrange the particles of the iron block, starting with the front. He made Princess Celestia's head with her beautiful, long, flowing mane. He tapped into the memories that he had of the many, many years he had know her. In a matter of moments, Moonshine had made a sculpture that would have taken an artist months to make.

"Wow, Mister Moonshine! That looks really good," Twilight exclaimed. Moonshine smiled appreciatively at Twilight. "Thank you."

He set the sculpture down on his desk. Perhaps I'll give it to Celly as a present. Or maybe I'll throw it at her tomorrow during our duel. Moonshine chuckled to himself at the second option.