(Brrrriiiiinnnnng) The bell signaling the end of class sounded throughout the halls of Canterlot High School, as the student’s briskly walked out of one class, and on their way to the next. A system which one Sunset Shimmer still thought was quite silly.
“Why not just have all our classes in one classroom with one teacher?” she had once asked Fluttershy. “Seems like kind of a waste of time to have to walk from one classroom to another when we are already in one.”
Fluttershy had explained that it was because certain teachers were more suited for certain subject’s then others. Sunset tried arguing that a good teacher should be capable of tackling every subject taught, but Fluttershy had just shrugged in response.
However the bizarre methods of Canterlot High School was the least thing currently on Sunset’s mind, as she walked through the halls toward her next class. She had recently been approached by a school guidance counselor about choosing her electives for the school year, and one of the ones she had chosen was Painting. Sunset still was not sure as to what she was planning to do after graduation (her original life plans certainly were now out of question), so not sure of what to do, she had closed her eyes and picked two electives at random. Painting had been one of them.
Reaching the classroom she walked in and took her seat. In front of her stood a long wooden easel, some white acrylic paper, and a large assortment of paint’s. After the rest of the class had filed in, the teacher stood up and addressed the class. He was one of the weirdest looking teacher’s Sunset had ever seen, sporting long black hair with a goatee, and a white lab coat.
“Welcome to Painting class” he started in a deep monotone voice. “There will be absolutely zero talking or socialization of any kind in this class.” He glared around the room as though daring someone to speak up, and give him a reason to set an example of them. “I don’t expect many of you to appreciate the subtle science and exact art that is Painting, but for those select few” he glanced around the room again, his gaze lingering longer on the few students who were of higher class. “I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the sense, I can teach you how to bottle fame, paint glory, even beyond death.”
Sunset took out a pen and some paper, and began writing down everything he was saying.
“However” he continued “Maybe some of you have come to CHS with abilities so formidable that they feel confident enough to not pay ATTENTION!”
He banged his hands against his desk startling Sunset from her notes.
“Well, well, well, Sunset Shimmer” he said “Our, new, celebrity”
Sunset looked around embarrassed as the class turned to stare at her, wondering if he was referring to her helping her friends defeat The Sirens, or the time she turned into a raging She-Demon and attempted to turn the entire school into her own personal slave army.
He took a few steps forward until he was right up against her desk glaring down at her. “Tell me Miss Shimmer, who was the famous painter who painted the Sistine Chapel?”
“I don’t know sir” She said, feeling even more embarrassed by the minute.
“A pity” he said with a cracked smirk “Clearly fame isn’t everything, is it Miss Sunset?” With that he walked back to his desk, leaving Sunset to wonder if taking Painting was such a good idea after all.
Upon reaching his desk he turned around and addressed the class. “For those of you who are not complete imbeciles” he glanced at Sunset again “You may have noticed an easel and some paint in front of you.”
Sunset turned her attention to her easel thinking to herself that it was kind of a hard thing not to notice.
“Your first assignment today you will be attempting to paint” he paused and reached down to pull something from under his desk, pull out a pot full of flowers, and setting them on his desk “this bouquet of flowers. You are to paint to flowers EXACTLY as they are, and you will be graded on exactness, including the proper lighting and texture. You have thirty minutes exactly, you may begin”.
Sunset picked up her paintbrush and paint’s, and began setting up her paint pallet wondering how in the world she was going to pull this off without any prior training on how to paint. After laying out all her assorted colors onto the pallet, she leaned over to glance at the bouquet of flowers. There was a mixture of Roses, Sunflowers, and Dandelions in there. She started with the vase they were in, grabbing some Brown paint, and first outlining the vase, before filling in the color. Then she started painting in the vines, followed by some red for the roses, yellow for the sunflowers, and so on. Once she had the basic colors in she began trying to add texture and lighting. Glancing at the clock, she realized she only had ten minutes left, and quickly set to work using a thin black brush to add textures to the petals of the flowers, and a thin fan brush to add lighting. When the thirty minutes was up, the teacher shouted for them to lay down their supplies, and began walking around the class critiquing their work. He was much harsher on those of poor or middle class then on those of higher class, regardless of the work they had created.
Looking at her own work, Sunset could only imagine the harsh critic she was about to get. At last he finally came to her easel, the last one of the class, and gave it a snide smirk.
“Well, well, well what have we here?” he asked. Sunset’s picture was far from perfect, it was chalk full of messy brush strokes, the lines where uneven, and it looked nothing like the bouquet on the table.
“Tell me Miss Shimmer, do you have poor eyesight or are just extremely hard of hearing?” He asked “I thought I made it quite clear I wanted it to look EXACTLY like the bouquet on the table?”
Sunset slid down her seat ashamed. She could hear some of the High class student’s snickering around her.
The teacher took hold of one of her smallest brushes, loaded it with red paint, and painted a large F on Sunset’s painting. He then walked away leaving Sunset to stare in disbelief at the giant red F on her paper. How could she possibly have failed an assignment on the first day?
Suddenly to her relief the bell rang again signally the end of class. Sunset gout of her seat quick as a flash and bolted for the door, determined to get as far away from their teacher as she possibly could. Upon making it back to her locker, she shoved her books into it and slammed the door hard, leaning back against its cold surface, and making a mental note to never pick another elective blindly again.
“Time to find another elective.” She sighed to herself, and started making her way back to Vice Principle Luna’s office.
Fun and awesome story, but I feel like more could be done with it. Like, for instance, changing the story's name a little and doing a number of chapters for a number of electorates. But, you know, just an idea. The story is brilliant standalone too!
That Harry Potter reference, tho.
I honestly think that if my art teacher did that to me, I would have punched her. I find it very agitating when people tell me I'm doing my art wrong.
Harry Potter reference. Wow. Love it!
HARRY POTTER REFERENCE GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~
Okay, that being said...
Are you going to write more? Why does this teacher hate Sunset so much? I NEED TO KNOW THE DETAILS. Is it Discord? Hoity Toity? SNAPE?
5144644 My moneys on Stevie Wonder.
Very nice. I liked that it wasn't a "happy" ending. But I would like it if Fluttershy where to tell her not to give up or something .
I hope there's a second chapter with Celestia and/or Luna lighting up this asshat. You don't do that to students, even the ones you don't like.
I would kill that teacher.
Also, Principle should be Principal in this case.
Pfft, everyone knows that painting is impossible unless you're some kind of magical weirdo
5144881 Someone should have told that to Professor Snape then, of course he got what he deserved for it in the end.
5145131 Same here. Also, i blame Spell Check
5144756 Well logically Fluttershy would have probably wanted to leave/tell her to leave as well after the treatment he had given her. Any of her other friends however might have convinced her to report the teacher, but re-main in the class.
5144644 It was suppose to be a total knock off of Snape of course. I didn't give him a name as i could not think of a good one that sounded like Snape. Also he hates her for the same reason he hates everyone. Just like Snape, nobody loves him.
5144146 Thanks. The idea was just a short story about Sunset trying to take a painting class, and it just went off from there.
5146194
I*
5144665 Gee, i wonder why
Eeehhhnn... is this gonna be it? Like if you continue to have her try a bunch more electives, maybe, but as it feels REALLY incomplete, I can't bring myself to vote either way on it yet.
5144679
5146666 GETITGETITGETITGETIT.
5146571 I'm debating continuing it as a series of short stories, each where she tries a different elective if people are really interested. Since i keep getting comments on it.
5148725 Thanks, i try to write at least something everyday. I generally come up with a thousand stories in my head everyday, so it's not that hard to come up with idea's, it's actually putting them into words that's the hard part for me. But i'm learning, and heavily enjoying the process
5148977 Well i have a DA but i started that just before getting set up on here. Other then that ive been coming up with stories in my head since as long as i can remember, but never really bothered sharing them with other's until now. I did do fairly better then average in English class and ive also been reading since as long as i can remember as well. One of my favorites growing up being the Harry Potter series.
I concur with the notion this should be continued with other electives.
5152831 I'll try and work it in then
5154111 Awesome.
I'm not sure why you basically copied the first potions class from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I feel like you could have put a much more unique spin on it rather than relying on the familiarity of the scene to carry it.
I came here to read your story, not a converted scene from Harry Potter. I'd like to see what you can do.
Also, you really need to work on your dialogue punctuation.
Let me guess, the teacher was Sombra and a Harry Potter reference was in it
It had the same problem as Double Rainboom - a ton of references but not much substance.
“Well, well, well, Sunset Shimmer” he said “Our, new, celebrity”
Lol
"Well, well, well, Harry Potter. Our new celebrity." - Severus Snape - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Many of those lines were from Harry Potter, which is what makes this so funny and awesome.