//------------------------------// // University Days, old chap! // Story: A self-made pony // by Paradise Oasis //------------------------------// My hard work and studying had earned me the right to attend University.... "I say, Bertie old chap.... do you really need to keep going on like that?" Fancy Pants and two of his friends. Berite and Derby Downs, had just finished thier classes, and were trotting back to their dormitories. Bertie, as always, was making a fool of himself, jumping over fences without using his wings, trying to impress the young ladies from the filly dorms. Derby, a brown earth pony, was instead trying to discuss politics and it's relation with the stock market. "Now I say old boy, all this talk of war with the Griffons has hurt the market terribly, no one wants to invest in War Time!" Derby complained. "Mark my words, Fancy, war is coming... and it shall be a bleak day for the business world!" "Ahh, but there's where you are in error, my friend!" Fancy Pants replied with a smile. "The talk of war shall drive the market so far down, it will bring both governments to the negotiating table. No politician wants to be the one that both starts a war and costs jobs!" As they were talking, a beautiful young mare trotted her way over to the two of them. "Excuse me...Fancy Pants?" "Oh? Why yes, my dear!" He asked politely. "What can I do for you?" "My name's Trophy Bridle... and I have to say... your performance in the last Iron Pony competition was simply amazing!" A smaller sized earth pony mare, her lavender coat and blonde hair were the every of every other Mare on campus. Fancy and Bertie speculate what her golden trophy cutie mark was probably for. "You out-performed the other competitors with a dignity and prowess rarely seen in aristocratic stallion!" "Why thank you, my dear!" The young stallion replied with a blush. "You are far too kind." "I was wondering if you would care to tell me more of your athletic activities." The debutante mare replied. "Over.. say.... dinner, perhaps?" Fancy Pants looked stunned, but then quickly recovered himself. "I would be delighted to, my dear." He said with a bow. "Perhaps we cold dine at the silver saddle? I'll stop by the filly's doems at seven." "Splendid!" Trophy replied. "Be sure to wait at the back entrance, so the dorm monitor doesn't see you!" As trophy and Fancy pants each trotted off there separate ways, Bertie mumbled to derby. "Why is it that he gets all the attention from the fillies?" ----- And so it was that the prevoiusly lonely young Stallion had now accquired a compaion to spend is time with. And with her by his side, the rest of the semester flew by like a Pegasus in an arieal competition. After his departure from the ghetto, Fancy Pants had used the scholarship money he had earned with his grades- along with what little he had saved from his bag-colt job- to get into Ponyford University- the finest secondary education bits could buy. He poured his heart and soul into his courses, excelling at not only at the fields of history and archeology , but also in everything athletic and extracurricular the University had to offer. On his dorm wall, hung a picture of Fancy with the school's rowing team, right beside a picture of him with Pony Theta Kappa. Fancy Pants never talked about his family much, merely mentioning his father had died in a terrible fire. He was determined to never let anyone know where he had come from. Fancy had become a total chameleon, blending in with these rich stuck-ups so thoroughly that they never suspected he was from the ghetto. He hated them, of course... this rich snobs were the ones responsible for his family being in the gutter. The sole exceptions were Bertie and Derby, whom he had met in his Philosophy class during his first semester. They had become good friends, and had come to do everything together. Then there was Trophy, the lovely little flower whom had approached him at the end of his sophmore year, and had proven to be a very dear and charming companion. They had been dating for about a year, when Fancy began to wonder if it might not be time to reveal the truth of his humble origins to his friends.... surely they would except him for who he was! Fancy was on his way over to meet his companions and the coffee shop to meet his companions... when he over heard three voices talking' "Can you believe it? They were going to let a commoner into this university! How Vulgar!" That sounded like.... Bertie's voice? No, it couldn't be, his friend would never say anything like that. "Though you have to admit... with as far down the flank as this university as been sliding, should come as no surprise they are letting vermin enroll now!" Was that... Derby's voice? His dear friend, the son of the wonderbolts racetrack owner in Canterlot.... Fancy Pants could feel his heart sinking in his chest, when a third voice drove a dagger through his heart. "Could you imagine ponies of a lesser pedigree running around the university grounds? It's appalling!" A female pony snorted. "You would certainly never catch me dallying with one of those uncouth ruffians!" It was at the end of their conversation, that Fancy spotted them, and they saw him. They couldn't understand why he galloped away so suddenly instead of coming over. "I say, Fancy, we're over here!" "Where in the name of Celestia does he think he's going?" "Fancy.... come back..." The end of his senior year was coming soon, Fancy reasoned, he could finish his Liberal Arts degree, and get out of here. He had heard there were opportunities out west, perhaps he could seek his fortune there. ... He tried to put out of his mind things like playing croquet with his two friends, or having his first kiss under the moonlight with Trophy. He would forget the warm meal they had shared at the little cafe, and how they had paddled out into the middle of that little lake in a rowboat. Trophy had wanted to pursue that night much farther than a kiss, but something of the morality his father had instilled in him held him back, and told him to wait. Now, he would never get the chance. No, it was best to put that part of his life behind him, and look to the future. The whole tapestry of his life was spread out before him, and there were a thousand adventures to be had! As he walked back to his dorm, he could ony see the very bright future that lay on his horizon....