"Come on, Josie, or we might be late!"
"I'm coming, I'm coming! Gosh, you act like I've been here the whole school day."
"No, you haven't, but you've wasted all of our morning free time!"
"Really? Okay, I'm coming down.
The blue and violet pegasus mare flew down from her cloud, having reshaped it into a barrel for practice. Her cutie mark, a barrel with a red lightning bolt made it impossible to guess her special talent. The blue earth pony mare that had been calling to her sat heavily, huffing. "You've done this almost every day now, let's just go ins-"
RIIING!
"Oh, pony-feathers! That's the 2 minute bell!" yelled the pegasus, Josie. She picked up the earth pony and soared through the school, not bothering to slow down at corners. Turning the final corner before their P.E. class-
Wham!
A clutter of books, pencils, notebooks, and new, unsharpened pencils rained down on the four ponies, all laying on the floor. Two colts, two mares. Two pegasi, one unicorn, one earth pony. The female pegasus laying on top of the unicorn. The male pegasus laying on top of the earth pony.
"Oh, my Celestia, I'm so sorry! I should've slowed down-" "No, I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention-" "No it's my fault, I'm just trying to get to class-" "Here, let me help you with your things-" "It's alright, I got them. Thanks anyway-" "Your welcome, um..." "Josie. My names Josie." The conversation just flowed out of Josie and the unicorn colt.
But the pegasus colt just stared at the earth pony mare. She blushed as he pushed himself up, hurriedly grabbing the mares things and putting them in her bag. He reached for his own bag when the mare beat him to it, handing it to him. After quickly - and very stutter-y - the colt said, "T-t-thank you, u-u-u-um..."
"P-Penned Hearts. B-But, you can just call m-me, Peni."
"Okay," said Josie, "let's go, lover-mare, we gotta make it to P.E. class."
"Come on, Copper, we've got to make it to science, I don't want a tardy on my first day." The white coated unicorn grabbed the pegasus colt, Copper, by the front leg and hurried him along as he mumbled, "Bye, Ms. Hearts..."
"Thank the five alicorns we made it on time!" said Josie. "Okay, now, I saw how you were looking at that colt, Copper. Are you in LOOOOVEE?" Many of the other mares in that class heard Josie, and began to murmur amongst themselves.
"No! I can't fall in love with a colt I just bashed into!" Peni replied hastily, adding, "I also hardly know him, and unless we end up sitting next to each other in one of my next classes this day, I'm waiting til he says 'Hi' first."
A pink pegasus mare walked up and said, "Oh, suuuure, Peni, just like you waited until Explosion was dared to ask you out?"
"Oh, shut the hay up, Flitter."
"Bit on the defensive, are we, Ms. Hearts?" asked a navy blue unicorn mare wearing a Ponyville High sweater with her name etched on the back, 'Aqua Marina'.
"Okay, last year you wouldn't even call me Penned, now you're calling me Ms. Hearts?" Peni asked Aqua.
"Okay, class," shouted Coach McHayz, grabbing the small classes attention, "today, since it's just the first day back, let's get our legs warmed up for Fitness Week of Fall!" The entire class groaned in unison. "Okay, I was gonna do just three laps and then some hoofball games, but we can do laps all day..." Each colt nearly burst the mare's eardrums shouting, "HOOFBALL! HOOFBALL! HOOFBALL!"
"Honestly," Peni whispered to Flitter, Josie, and Aqua, "I'd rather be doing volleyball practice, or, you know, almost ANYTHING ELSE."
Flitter replied, "I hear you, sister. Trust me."
"Okay, ladies, your locker room is right outside the door to the left. Gentlemen, yours is right outside the opposite door, to the right. Get dressed out, and come right back. We'll start with our three laps," said Coach McHayz, indicating to the east and west doors leading to separate hallways.
"Wait, why do we get dressed out? We run around naked the rest of the time," said Josie. "I mean really..." She went on rambling like this for a short while. All Peni could think about was that colt... with his shiny, almost oily looking mane... his gorgeous silver eyes... and his amazing wings...
RIIING!
"Of COURSE! This always happened last year, with Coach Colburn! We'd start undressing and washing up, and then we wouldn't have time to finish!" Peni was on the verge of yelling, trying to gather her things and finish drying her mane at the same time. Glancing at her schedule for the day, Peni saw she had Chemistry 101 next hour. She knew the chemistry teacher NEVER gave tardies to ponies from first hour P.E., so she was lucky. "Thank Faust in the heavens!" she said to herself. After hoisting her school bag - one side an actual bag, the other a three-ring trapper with all her paper, notebooks, pens, and pencils in it - onto her back, she hurried out, wanting to make a good first impression on Mrs. Fizzover.
Arriving just a few moments before the tardy bell, Peni heaved her trapper/saddlebag on the floor and saw on the board who she was sitting next to.
Copper Wire.
Oh my Faust, oh my Faust, oh my Faust, OH MY FAUST! Peni thought to herself. Josie will never let me live this down... Peni sat down at her seat, noticing the one next to her empty. Did he get sick and have to leave? Peni thought, just moments before Copper hobbled into the classroom, obviously having trouble with his bags. She got up to help him, and accidentally kicked his back left leg, which, to her surprise, left a resounding clang in the classroom.
"Hm?" Peni somewhat said, glancing curiously at the colts leg. He's got a prosthetic leg? I didn't notice that before!
"Thanks, uh, wasn't it Peni?" Copper asked, after hoisting his saddlebags onto the desk.
Mrs. Fizzover walked into the class, saying, "Okay, okay, now class, I know you're all glad to be-" *Collective groan* "Well, I was going to say 'Freshcolts', since honestly, nopony wants to be back here. Let's just get this class over with, which gets us that much closer to the end of the day, which gets us closer to the end of the week, then closer to the end of the month, which get us closer to the end of the quarter, which gets us closer to the end of the simester, which gets us closer to the end of the school year. Then you'll be sophmares, then juniors, the seniors, then possible freshcolts in college. I'll be retiring with your graduating class, so don't worry."
Wow, a teacher that realizes school is a prison! I'm gonna like Mrs. Fizzover. Peni thought to herself as she had us all go around introducing ourselves. When it got to Copper, he said, "Well, I'm Copper Wire, and I just moved here from Canterlot." All hope is lost. Peni thought. He's a rich city colt, so that's great. This really ho-hau-haw whu-what am I THINKING?! Holy Celestia, I'm FANTASIZING ABOUT HIM?!
"Ms. Hearts?" asked Mrs. Fizzover.
"My turn?" Peni replied with a question. "Okay. I'm Penned Hearts, but everyone knows me as Peni. Not much to tell about, uh, my family consists of my two brothers, one sister, my brother-in-law, and my mom."
Mrs. Fizzover asked, "No father?"
"No," Peni replied, "my father passed away two years ago, and my family's lived through it. Anyways, I've lived here in Ponyville for 11 years, since I was 6 and still a blank flank. But very soon after I moved here, I discovered my drawing talent, and I've been just drawing and drawing. I sometimes write, but it's not my strong point."
"Thank you, Ms. Hearts. Next, Mr. Jam?" The next pony began his 'personality speech, while Copper just turned to Peni.
"I'm really sorry about what happened to your dad," he said, and continued, "I lost my dad when I was 3, but he left us first. I was given to my mother, along with my sister, while my dad got our two brothers."
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Peni said, sympathizing with Copper. She'd known what it was like for her father to leave, but not the way Coppers dad had left him. Peni's father had normally only left when he and her mother were arguing, just to cool off. Once he was arrested, but unfairly, since he had barely driven down the road, and a cop arrested him for drunk driving. Peni, her brother Controller, and her mother had to leave very early to bail out their father. "Do you ever get to see your dad?"
"No, I decided to stay away from my father and his new wife, but I'm able to see my brothers, since my mom got weekend custody." Peni and Copper kept chatting throughout the class, only stopping when they needed to answer a question or write some notes. Peni found out he'd lost his leg in an accident caused by his father, and his sister was born without her left wing. When the bell rang, Peni and Josie met in the hall, and realized they both had seminar next hour, so they had an hour and a half to sit and talk.
"So," Josie asked, "What's up in Chem. 101? You look like your itching to tell me something."
Peni just burst. "Oh my Faust, Copper is AMAZING! He moved from Canterlot with his mom and sister, and he get's to see his brothers on weekends cause his mom got partial custody. And he lost his leg because his dad sliced it up and broke the bones too much they had to amputate it, and his mom made him a bunch of new ones, and he made the one he's wearing by himself..." She went on and on about the colt. From how he cared for his younger sister, Ariel Ace, when the court fights were going on to how compassionate he seems.
When Peni finally finished, Josie said, "Well, looks like you two had a lot to talk about."
RIIIING!
WOOOOOOO!!
The entire school let out a collective whoop as the day ended. Peni and Josie met up at the door, and went to leave, when-
Wham!
Saddlebags fell to the ground, this time nothing falling out. Copper and Peni sat on the floor, unintentionally blocking the doorway for the hurrying ponies. "Sorry guys!" "Didn't mean to!" Peni and Copper were talking at the same time.
"Hey, Copper. Hey F-Frostbite..." Josie said, stuttering at the unicorn colt, Frostbite's, name. A gentle blush warmed her cheeks. Peni's cheeks were much redder, considering she was just one 'wrong' head turn away from accidentally kissing Copper. A teal magic aura lifted the two ponies on the floor outside with their bags. "Hey, Copper, do you and Frostbite want to come to my barrel racing competition this weekend? The tickets for my guests are free, so your brothers can come, Copper. Your sister too."
"Yeah, sure! That sounds like fun. I've gotta go, my mom's here! See you, Frost, Peni, Josie!"
Peni stared at Copper, astonished he'd actually said yes to Josie. Once he and Frostbite were gone, she said, "Well, you and Copper got aquainted when I wasn't in the class you shared."
"Yeah," Josie said, "we had third and fourth hours together."
Peni said hastily, "Lucky! I've only got one cl..." Peni realized she felt... jealous. She took off before Josie could tease her for the way she acted.
Man, Peni thought, I can't believe Josie was right this morning...