Citrus Saplings

by Istaran

Amber Waves

The rising sun shining through her window woke Amber Waves as it did most every morning. The earth filly stretched and yawned, and began preparing for a day like any other. She brushed her teeth first, then began styling her blonde mane into the perfectly arrayed amber waves that she was named for. Her brown fur was next, brushed from head to flank, finishing just in time for her mother to call her downstairs for breakfast.

Like any other morning, she enjoyed the pancakes, and begrudgingly ate the eggs. "Ready for school my little genius?" her Daddy asked as he did most mornings. She nodded and gave her best smile as she finished chewing. Mom shot him her customary look. He couldn't help it. Daddy was a unicorn, and didn't have the same appreciation of farm work that the other earth ponies here in Citrus Hills shared. If it were up to him, Amber would be doing, well, anything else with her life. But she was an earth pony, just like Mom, and that limited her options somewhat. She certainly wouldn't be a weathermare. But there were a lot of other possibilities, and she was determined to make her Daddy proud.

"On your way, then, dear," Mom said, holding out Amber's saddlebags to her in her teeth. Slipping into position, the filly accepted the heavy packs and gave her parents each a quick kiss as she made her escape, eager for another day of learning.

The walk to the Orange Seeds Schoolhouse wasn't that long, but it was long enough for a brief encounter or two on my way. Long View, the green furred, thick glassed, pegasus colt who was her greatest rival descended from his flight path long enough to clop hooves with her. "Hay, Amber. See you in class!" he greeted cheerfully before climbing again. He was almost always the first in class, but that didn't do him that much good. Lemon Drop wouldn't start teaching until everypony was present. Everypony who was going to show up, anyways.

As Amber rounded the last corner before the schoolhouse, she saw an unfamiliar earth pony mare approaching, moving to pass her. Black mane, white fur, and a broom and dustpan cutie mark, she swiftly memorized. A maid, perhaps? There were a few households in town big enough to appreciate such services and rich enough to afford the luxury, if they could be convinced to part with their bits. Amber couldn't help a small giggle as her mind jumped to the mystery books she was so fond of. The maid did it! The maid always did it. The alleged maid glanced at her as she giggled, raising an eyebrow slightly but carrying on. A giggling filly isn't all that noteworthy, after all.

When the filly finally reached the door into the classroom, she paused, blinking a moment as she took in the sights before moving to take her seat in the front right corner. Midnight Oil, the black furred, purple maned unicorn with a distinct record of absenteeism was sitting in Long View's spot, front and center, displacing the near sighted pegasus to the back row. The other seat in the front row was occupied by a newcomer, a stark white unicorn colt she'd never met, who had instantly captured Midnight's interest. Amber made a note to thank Long for not taking her seat when he was displaced. Note? Perfect. She'd make an extra copy of all her notes for him today, to help out. He'd probably be fine on his own, but he'd appreciate the gesture. And what's the point of a rivalry if you have to take unfair advantages to beat your rival?

The other unicorn in the class joined them while Amber prepared her notebook, the horned filly humming to herself cheerfully as she dance-walked her way across the room and over to the spot behind the newcomer. "Hi there! I'm Ginger Dimples!" she introduced, exchanging a clop of greeting with the white colt.

"Blank Slate," he answered, before she nodded and moved on. He opened his mouth to say something else, but as she was already gone he just shook his head.

"Don't mind her. She's a sweetheart, but Ginger is far too vapid for a clever colt like you, I'm sure,~" Midnight half-said, half-purred, drawing his attention back to her. Ugh. What was her game? They were all far too young for what it sounded like. None of the foals even had cutie marks yet.

OJ and Summer Sun passed me on their way to the seats behind Amber. The pair of orange colored earth ponies were nearly beneath Amber's notice, something she occasionally felt guilty for. Other times she felt like they should feel guilty for wasting everypony's time in class. They were all pretty sure the two were going to marry and spend the rest of their lives tending fruit trees. They themselves were sure of it enough that they tuned out their lessons most days, and openly chatted and passed notes all day, making it that much harder for those ponies trying to actually learn. Even farmers needed to know some things, the adults insisted, or else those two wouldn't even be here.

Finally, Stormcloud glided in just as Miss Lemon Drop was gathering the class roll in her magic. The pegasus filly wore more clothing than anypony else the foals knew, all of it silver-studded black-dyed leather to clash with her white-dyed fur, and match the bizarre use of makeup, black bags drawn in under her eyes, with fake black tear streaks drawn in and black lipstick. "Oh hey new foal," she greeted as she headed for her seat dead center. "Love the look." She winked at him and gave a grin as she settled into place before taking on her typical bored look for class. Midnight shot her an warning glass, while Blank Slate used a hoof to cover a bit of a laugh.

This time the roll call was a bit longer than usual, with Blank Slate coming in right after Amber, and Ginger reflexively answering 'here' to his name, before catching herself with a fit of giggles.

"Blank Slate, will you come up and introduce yourself to everypony," Miss Lemon Drop finally requested, when the roll was done.

The colt nodded, slipped up to the front with a bit of a blush, and a timid look, he waved to everypony. "Hello. I'm Blank Slate. Thank you for welcoming me to your town," he said.

"Hello, Blank Slate!" the other foals answered in unison, before each giving their names.

---

The black and white earth mare stopped by again, at noon, offering Blank Slate a set of used saddlebags just as the class was stopping for lunch. Amber hadn't noticed until then that he had been bagless. She chided herself for her inattention, as she strolled out to see the situation.

With Midnight present, that usually meant she and Ginger would pair off to eat lunch. The pegasi always ate up on the roof, and that generally left Amber eating with the tree kickers. They weren't bad ponies, just lighter conversation than she preferred. Not that Ginger was much better in that regard, but her cheerfulness was infectious, and Amber never regretted spending time in her presence because of it.

Amber had hoped she could get the new colt to herself, or that Midnight would hog him and leave Amber with Ginger, but no. The three unicorns clustered together. So the earth filly sat with the orange ponies, surrounded by the admittedly delicious scent of fresh oranges from their lunch as she bit into her own carrots. She angled her ears, trying to hear what the unicorns had to say, but it was hard from this distance, especially with the side conversations going on.

"Was that your mother," Ginger asked. "She seems nice. Is she a maid?"

Amber couldn't hear Blank's response, or Midnight's exchange with him. It sounded a lot more complicated than a simple 'yes' or 'no', though. She hoped Ginger would catch her up later, if the ditsy unicorn could even remember it all.

"Aww, that's no good. They sound like a bunch of meany pants!" Ginger complained. "Well, we'll be much nicer to you, won't we?"

Amber couldn't hear the next bit either, but she didn't need to hear to make out Midnight's overly affectionate rubbing against him with her shoulder. She was definitely still after him. What was her hurry anyways?

The new colt's horn began to glow green for a bit, barely visible in the sunlight, somewhat easier to see against the black background of Midnight's fur as she got all too inappropriately close. Some of the other foals here might not know, but Amber's Daddy was a unicorn himself. She had some idea what was or was not appropriate when it came to horns. Perhaps more so than Midnight, actually. The black furred filly had a pegasus for a mother, and an earth pony stepfather... but she still ought to know better. It was in some of the basic textbooks, after all.

---

At the end of the school day, Amber stopped Long View before he could head out. "Here, Long. I made an extra copy of my notes," she explained, offering a pile of pages to him.

"Oh, wow. Thanks, Amber!" he said, accepting the pages with a wing and glancing them over before slipping them in his saddlebags. He looked at her a moment, blushing for some reason before surprising her with a sudden kiss to the cheek and dashing out of the schoolhouse on wing-borne speed.

Amber was stunned for a moment, processing what had just happened. He was her rival, not her love interest! Her cheeks hurt like he'd lit them on fire with his... his cooties! She let myself indulge the thought for a moment before it faded. She sighed. The little narratives in her head she had for everypony else didn't always match up to their own, she guessed. Still, she wasn't giving up on her rivalry. It helped motivate her, kept her sharp. And he was the only pony in the class who could compete with her academically. Midnight was smart and worked hard, but missed too much class, placing a distant third in the grades.

Amber gathered her own copy of her notes and gave them her customary review before putting them away and heading out the door. She was typically the last one out of the schoolhouse, but this time she noticed a pair of unicorns sitting outside, a dozen hooves from the doorway. Midnight Oil and Blank Slate were there, facing each other, talking. That only became more surprising as she overheard some of their conversation.

"Seventeen!" Midnight said, clopping her hooves as he nodded in the affirmative. "Now it's your turn. One, two, three, four... four seconds, not bad. Alright, give it a rest a bit." She counted off as his horn glowed bright for a bit, before dropping down to a faint, almost invisible light, not completely at rest.

"Whew... getting a bit better... alright now, listen carefully. What's six times seven minus fourteen divided by two?" he inquired of her.

She wrote in the dirt with her own magic quickly, working her way through the figures. "Fourteen," she concluded, her face looking crestfallen when he shook his head.

"Look back to the top. You had it right at that point. Don't forget the order of operations," he tutored. They were tutoring each other. Amber was a bit jealous... Midnight could have asked her for help anytime, even if she couldn't really help the new colt with his horn problems. She shook her head, and headed for home, not wanting to dwell on it too long.

---

"Welcome home, honey. Your snack's on the counter. Eat up and do your homework. Daddy will be home in a few hours," Amber's mom greeted her. She repaid the words with a loving nuzzle before taking the offered food to the table and getting out her books.

"There's a new colt at school," Amber informed her mother. "Unicorn, white furred. Midnight's really taken a liking to him. A bit too aggressively, I think."

"You aren't jealous of her, I hope?" her mom asked, "There's plenty of earth ponies to chose from, you don't need to fight with her over the only unicorn colt your age."

She shook her head quickly, even as she blushed. "Mooom! No! Anyways... I think Long View might try courting me. He snuck a kiss on my cheek, even though all I did was given him an extra copy of my notes."

Her mom laughed at that. "And why were you being so generous with your 'eternal rival' to begin with? I thought you were trying to beat him in grades?"

"I was. I am! But it has to be fair. Midnight stole his seat, and he got stuck in the back row, and Stormcloud kept blocking his view with her wings. She thought is was funny! I'm amazed he even ate lunch with her today. I bet he was so mad," Amber explained. "Anyways, how was he supposed to take notes if he couldn't see the chalkboard, and how is it a proper competition if he can't even have notes to study from?"

"You're a good filly," her mom said, pleased, before kissing her on the top of the head and squeezing her hard in a hug. "And that's what makes me proud of you. Now do your homework, dear. And I'll do mine." She grabbed the broom and started sweeping, while her filly grabbed quill and ink and began answering Miss Lemon Drop's questions for the day.