//------------------------------// // A1: Familiar Territory // Story: Ponyville High // by BlazeHydra //------------------------------// Ponyville High --Chapter 1-- A1: Familiar Territory "Hm... quite the chariot ride, but I'm here now!" said Twilight as she stepped out of the decorated golden chariot and analyzed the name plate, "Ponyville High, eh? Definitely smaller than CSMG, but the students here are probably closer together. The only thing I don't understand is, why would Celestia send me to a school that doesn't specialize in magic, or anything for that matter?" she thought as she checked the time, "Omigosh! I'm gonna be late if I don't hurry!" Twilight ran down the hallway, subsequently levitating her schedule and almost bumping into several other ponies at the same time. Arriving at her destination, she double checked her schedule, "Let's see... Applied Magic 10... room 308... yep, this is the place!" Twilight said as she walked in the room, which was much less crowded than she anticipated. The few other ponies in the room looked at her for a moment before returning to their own endeavors; some chatting, others frantically attempting to finish their homework last minute. At this point, Twilight checked the time again, "7:37... and class starts at... 7:45." She laughed to herself, "I guess I wasn't as late as I thought." The teacher, a deep blue unicorn sitting at a larger desk in a corner of the room, noticed the lavender unicorn in the front of the classroom and turned towards her, "Hm? Oh, right! I forgot I was getting a new student today!" she said as she turned back to her seating chart, "Um... just sit where ever, don't worry about anything." "Oh, thank you Miss..." Twilight said right when she realized she didn't know any of the teachers in this school. "Phenn." She laughed, "Call me Ms. Phenn." The unicorn pulled out some papers out of a grey shelf, "Oh, and before you sit, here's the drill packet and syllabus for this year." "Thank you, Ms. Phenn." Twilight said as she levitated the packets into her saddlebags and moved to her seat, near the center but closer to the front door as well, the seat was also pretty far away from the other unicorns that looked like gossipers, Twilight was never very social, but she still studied the actions of the other students at her old school when she could, and could recognize trouble when she saw it. Later on, when class was about to start and other ponies began to flood into the room, one in particular had been called over by the teacher as soon as he walked in. Twilight tried not to stare straight at him so as not to be rude, but did notice that the teacher said something to him, to which he just shrugged and walked to what may or may not have been his seat. Twilight didn't pay much attention to the ponies that she sat next to, but one of them, a powder white unicorn with a perfectly style violet mane, leaned over to her after they both finished their drills. "Are you new here?" The other unicorn asked, "Either way, thank you for taking that seat, you have no idea how irritating that other colt was! Oh, where are my manners! My name is Rarity, and yours?" Twilight looked up half interested at her companion, "Hm? Oh, I'm Twilight Sparkle. And yes, I just transferred here today." "Tell me Twilight, where did you transfer from? Because the weather there did not treat your mane very well!" Rarity said as she levitated a rather elaborate brush out from her saddlebag, "Here, I just bought it so don't worry about it being used, think of it as a welcome gift. No offense, but I think you need it more than I do." She laughed lightly, but from the look on her face Twilight could tell this brush meant something to her, and she was forcing herself to part with it. "T-thank you, Rarity..." Twilight said after being at a loss for words for a few seconds. No one ever welcomed her at CSMG, nonetheless gotten her a gift! She didn't know what else to say, so she hastily levitated the brush into her bag and looked back to her packet. There was an awkward silence, so Rarity tried to spark a conversation again, "I really don't think it's fair that only unicorns get to learn about magic, wouldn't you agree?" she said, hoping an intelligent matter would pique her new friend's interest. "What?" Twilight said, "Isn't that what Magic Theory is for?" she asked, Rarity simply gasped. "Magic Theory? Our school doesn't teach that, what school did you say you transferred from again?" Rarity asked. "Oh, I came here from CSMG!" Twilight said, oblivious to Rarity's twitch, "It's a nice school and all, but I would get lost in there every now and then, I mean that school was BIG. Heck, voluminous would be an understatement!" Twilight ranted on for a little bit, and when she was finished, Rarity just sat there gaping in awe. "Did you say, CSMG?" "Yup!" "As in, THE CSMG?" "I don't think there's any other, but if there is, I'm refering to Celestia's School for the Magically Gifted." Rarity almost fainted, "Darling, we DEFINITELY need to talk some more later." Right when Twilight was going to ask why Rarity said 'later', she noticed Rarity was facing the front of the room, towards the teacher, who said "Alright class! Let's get started on the drill, who wants to go over question one?" Twilight noticed that she was getting all the answers correct, so she took the extra time to comb her mane, a smile on her face the whole time. ----- "Well, glad to see you're finally finished!" Twilight laughed after Rarity put down her pen. Throughout the class Twilight & Rarity had been helping each other with their classwork, and had become rather comfortable talking with one another. "You don't possibly expect me to finish as fast as you, do you?" Rarity asked jokingly, levitating her packet to a green bin near the front of the room. "Oh come on, you're pretty bright, Rarity! You seem to know what you're doing." Twilight continued, "You finish faster than the other students too-" Rarity cut her off, "Not as fast as the mare from Canterlot!" she giggled, then she saw the look on Twilight's face, and sighed, "Oh Twilight, you know that's not how I see you!" Twilight sighed, "I know, and I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions like that, I apologize." "No need for apologies!" Rarity said, relieved, "Right now all we need to worry about is finishing that little chat of ours-" And then the bell rang. "That's it for today, guys! Remember, if you didn't finish that vocab packet, it's homework!" Ms. Phenn said cheerfully as all the other unicorns rushed out the room, all except Twilight & Rarity, who still needed to pack their things. Rarity sighed, "I guess it'll have to wait until we meet again." "I guess so." Twilight laughed a little as she looked around the room, "I think it's safe to assume that first period doesn't serve as homeroom?" "I'm sure that's the case for somepony." Rarity said, "Just not for all. Now, we really should get going!" "Right..."