//------------------------------// // Chapter One: The Beginning // Story: Storm of the Century // by Cavalier753 //------------------------------// Today is the big day. Seventeen years old. I'm pretty much an adult now. Nopony ever told me exactly when that line was crossed, and the books here barely touch on that subject. Anyway, that doesn't really matter. The thing is, that I'm excited because my birthday is on a Friday this year, meaning it's a school day. Most ponies wouldn't be excited that their birthday is on a school day, but me? I couldn't be happier. Why? Because on school days, she's here. Aurelia, my only friend in this bleak existence, goes here, to Canterlot Academy. She's a pegasus, so that should mean that we aren't supposed to be friends, but we don't care. We enjoy each other's freindship, and isn't that all that really matters? The day is just starting, and I'm all ready to go. Mane and tail brushed? Check. Coat thoroughly inspected and cleaned? Check. Teeth brushed? Check. Stupid see-through dress gown thing? Check. Hood up? Check. Books? Check. Eeyup, I'm all set. Let's do this. I opened the door to my room, leaving the small safety that it provided. The unicorn wing of the school was mostly empty, save for a guard dozing off from the long night shift, and a few other early riser unicorns like myself. I closed the door gently, so as not to disturb anypony else. I then proceeded on my way as quietly as possible, feeling that if I ruptured the silence of this beautiful morning it might cause the entire day to end up in shambles. I kept a brisk pace, passing through the rest of the unicorn wing, then the gardens, then the main locker pod area. There weren't really any other ponies around, only a few regular students who didn't have any other lives but school, and a solitary unicorn who sat in a corner, snout deep in a book on physics, probably studying for some test he completely forgot about. I kept my pace, not stopping for anything, for I was a colt on a mission, and Celestia as my witness, I was going to fulfill that mission. As I neared the opposite end of the school, I started slowing down. I had already made good time, as it was only six minutes after I had left my room. I had plenty of time. A clock I saw read 7:13, and school didn't start 'til 7:45, so I had more than enough time. I made it in another two minutes, taking in the view of what I had reached. I sat down on my flank, relaxing for what I was sure to be a great day. In fact, I soon became so relaxed I started nodding off, but with a swift mental kick I woke myself back up. The clock in view read 7:18, so only a few minutes were lost. I looked back at my surroundings. I was sitting on a small grassy area at the front of the Academy, conveniently gated to prevent unicorns like myself from "forgetting" that they had to stay here, whilst everypony else went back home. But I wasn't thinking about that right now. I was too busy watching the sun rise over the horizon. Now, here's the thing that gets me, every sunrise and sundown. Surely you all know that Celestia and Luna disappeared years ago, right? I mean, who doesn't? Anyway, the part that I don't understand is that if Celestia and Luna raise the sun and the moon every morning and night, how could they do that if they aren't even here? But that's when I always stop and think: but can't they do that from anywhere? It doesn't have to be Canterlot from where they do it, right? That's what the logical side of me says, but the ever-curious side of me just has to battle that. Pretty soon, I have an entire war going on in my head, and then the next thing I know, I look up and she's standing over me, looking at me with those bright orange eyes that would make the sunset jealous. I look over at the clock and it's 7:30 already. 7:30. That's when she gets here everyday. Never any sooner, never any later. "How's it going, horn-head?" she asks me in a non-insulting, almost teasing manner. "Not too shabby, feather-brain. Just waiting for you to stop being late every day," I return, in the same tone of voice she's using. "Late? What in the hay are you talking about, late? I'm here at the same time every day," she says, rolling her beautiful orange eyes. "Exactly. You're always late." "Am not! We never agree on a time." "That's because you know you'll always be late." "Oh stuff it," shes says, pulling me in for a hug. "Happy birthday, hot-head." I return the hug, feeling the warmth seeping off her body. "Thanks Aurelia, it means a lot." "Anytime, buddy. So, what do you have planned today? And don't give me that look. You have something planned every day it's your birthday. You have for the past eleven years." I looked at her coyly, not wanting to give up the information just yet. I looked left and right, keeping an eye out for any guards or unwanted eavesdroppers. I turned back to my pegasus friend. "I can't tell you here. Too many people starting to show up. Can we go somewhere quieter?" "Sure," she said, eyeing me suspiciously. "I doubt many ponies are at the gardens right now, we could go there, if it's quiet you want." "Sounds perfect. Shall we?" I asked, gesturing to the entrance to the Academy. She took the lead, as always. She claimed it was because I followed her about like a lost puppy dog, but we both know she was just joking. I however, maintained the fiction that I always took up the rear just so I could stare at her marvelous flank. But between you and me, it wasn't totally a joke. The way those hips sway, you'd claim the same thing, no matter which gender you prefer. She always thought it was a joke, at least that's what I think anyway. After a couple minutes of walking, we made it to the gardens. They were very nice, really. Plenty of grass to walk on, a nice change of pace from the constant paved hallways we always walked on. The loud clopping of my hooves always made me feel wierd. Like I was being really loud, and everypony was staring. Granted, they usually stared because of my horn, rather than how much noise I was making. There was plenty of vegetation and trees to spruce up the area, and gave everything that "natural" feel. I always loved being in the garden, because it made me feel like I was away from this opressive school, and that I was out in the wilderness, enjoying everything nature had to offer. Of course I realized it was just a self-created illusion, and the grim reality came surfacing back. But still, sometimes you just want to pretend and get away from it all. The gardens were completely empty, save that one unicorn that was buried inhis book, who seemed to have moved from the locker pods to the garden, most likely to avoid the crowds of pegasi and earth pony students arriving. I picked a nice, lush, green spot to sit on. Aurelia sat next to me, her coat almost brushing up against mine. I leaned in real close and looked at her cautiously. My look piqued her interest, so she leaned in too. I took a deep breath. "I'm sure you're all wondering why I called you here," I said, stifling a laugh. Aurelia sighed, rolling her eyes. "Come on, out with it. What are you planning, you silly filly?" "Well, you see, this being my birthday and all, I wanted to do something special today. And do you know what that is?" I asked her. "The suspense is killing me," she said with a hint of sarcasm. I leaned in even closer and whispered in her ear. "Want to ditch class?" I asked. She looked at me like I had suddenly gone crazy. "Maelstrom, you can't be serious. You're a unicorn. They'll know you skipped out. What if they think you escaped campus? They'll come looking for you, and then you'll be in a heap of trouble, more that you can shovel your way out of!" That's just like her. Worrying about what might happen to me, and not what might happen to her. "Oh come on. I've skipped out on classes tons of times. They always just think I'm asleep. You know the staff doesn't care about one unicorn not going to history class," I brushed away her concerns. "So, whaddya say? Thinking of joining me on this impossibly brilliant excursion of mine?" She bit her lip, thinking. She looked around to see if anyone was listening in. She looked back at me, with a hint of mischief in her eyes. "You're on, horn-head." We sat on the roof of the main building, staring out at the cityscape. Canterlot was the capital for a reason, it would seem. I mean, not even an immortal Princess could fail to fall in love with the beauty of this city. Sure, I was in the worst place possible to enjoy the scenery, being at the Academy, surrounded by buildings, so as I couldn't really get a clear view of the serene horizon, but I couldn't complain, really. Despite it all, I had a relatively easy life. The worst I had to worry about was getting in trouble for making some earth pony cry too much for making fun of Aurelia, or forgetting to do homework and getting chewed out by one of my various teachers. It was worth it though, because if I wasn't here, I wouldn't have met my best friend in the world. I looked over to the mare by my side. She was beautiful in the sunlight. Her blue-and-green mane and tail flowed in the light breeze, her bright, orange eyes reflecting the sunlight perfectly, as if all the light in the world came from them, not Celestia's sun. Aurelia is the most beautiful pegasus I've ever had the fortune of meeting, and I'm even luckier she picked me as her friend. I must be coming off as a complete sap, aren't I? My point being, is that no matter anypony else might say, I wouldn't trade this moment for anything else in the world. An end to the Unassailable, or this one moment? I'd pick this moment any day. Unicorns being treated equally and fairly like in the old days? Nope, this moment. An infinite supply of sweets and treats, so much that I would die from diabeties? That's a tough one. My inner fat-flank would definitely pick the sweets, but deep down, I have this inkling that the rest of me would pick this moment. I became lost in this line of thinking for a while, so much so that I didn't notice Aurelia looking at me with a peculiar expression of curiosity on her face. I snapped out of it just in time to hear her ask: "You alright? You've been staring at me for a good five minutes." I turned my head to the side to try to block her view of my blushing cheeks. Damn this white coat. "Uh, yeah, I-I'm fine, r-really," I said, trying to cover for my stupidity. " I was just uh, looking at your, um, feathers. Yeah, your feathers! I was wondering how you manage to keep them so uh, clean," I ended lamely. Real smooth, I thought to myself. There's no way she couldn't not buy that, right? Right? Wrong. She just gave me one of her famous looks, like: I know you're hiding something, so you better just cough it up before I force it out of you. I decided that it was time to finally ask her the question that's been on my mind since she and I first became friends. "Aurelia, have you ever thought that-" I started, but never got to finish, because I was so rudely interrupted by Ms. Strokes, the music teacher. "Hey! What do you two think you're doing up there? Don't you know you're not allowed to be on the roof? And you, A2-753, where is your gown? You know the rules! No unicorn allowed out without their gown!" She yelled up to us. Oh buck! I had taken off my stupid cyan gown, because it was annoying and getting in the way due to its length. It was lying with my books back at my room. What was I going to tell Ms. Strokes? She was right, after all. How could I be so stupid to forget that gown? "I'm uh, really sorry Soothing, I forgot it," I replied lamely. "Haven't I told you not to call me by my first name? It's Ms. Strokes to you, 753, and after twelve years with us, I'd expect a little more humility from one of our senior unicorns here!" she spat back at me. Normally, if this was another student talking like that to me, I would have flattened him out on the ground. This however, was a teacher that could make my life even worse than it was. I decided to play the brown-noser, no matter how much I hated it. "Sorry Ms. Strokes, it's just that when I'm around superior pony kind, I sometimes forget to think. Can you ever forgive me, most esteemed teacher?" I drawled on, trying to make it sound convincing. She gave me the evil eye, most likely trying to detect any hint of sarcasm in my voice. Luckily, I can be a convincing liar when I want to be. "Hmmm, alright. That's better. But there's no excuse for skipping class, and not wearing your gown. A2-753, you will report to the principal's office as soon as possible. Do I make myself clear?" "Crystal, ma'am," I answered, sitting up straight. As soon as she left, I slouched back into my usual sitting position. Aurelia looked over at me and saw my obvious pained expression. She laid a hoof on my shoulder. "It really gets to you, doesn't it?" "Yeah, it does." "You shouldn't let it." "I don't really have a choice, Aurelia. It's ponies, putting me down for what I was born with. I hate every second of it. I don't know how you stand to be around me." "It's because I don't judge a book by its cover. And you mean a lot to me." I looked over at her curiously. Did she just say what I think she said? "Do you really-" but I was interrupted, yet again. "753! Let's go, now!" Ms. Strokes yelled at me. I looked over at Aurelia again. "I gotta go," I said weakly. She merely nodded. "I'll talk to you later. Meet you in your room, yeah?" I nodded in return. "Sure, you know where the key is." "Be careful in there." I looked at her with the same mischivious glint in my eye that she had earlier, and grinned. "Since when was being careful a part of my job description?"