Anything but Textbook
Doors (are more intimidating than one would think)
RA training hadn't taught how to knock on doors. Twilight hesitated, hand poised to knock on the mass-produced, fake-wood door that read “407” in metal lettering. Reading was easy and enjoyable; she knew how to do that. Twilight read the number again. It wasn't prime, but she couldn't think of what the divisors would be. She wanted to say one of them was eleven.
“Heeey, Twilight! Aren't you gonna get your residents for the meeting?”
Twilight jolted back from the door and looked towards the voice. Pinkie Pie, as well as what looked like all of the residents from her half of their hall, was looking at her with a big, puzzled, smile.
“Uh, sure,” Twilight replied, “I'm, um, working on that.”
Pinkie's smile was persistent. “Do ya want some help?” she asked, bouncing over, “I could get this side while you got that side.” Pinkie's residents were all walking towards the common room. None of Twilight's were even out of their rooms. In all likelihood, they didn't even know the meeting existed.
Twilight realized her hand was still raised. She quickly dropped it and blushed. “Sure, Pinkie. That would be great.”
Four-Oh-Seven. Four hundred seven. There was some sort of rhythmic thumping coming from behind the door, lots of bass.
Divisible by one, eleven, thirty seven, and four hundred seven. What kind of girl had a sound system set up by the first night?
Maybe she should major in math. Numbers didn't ask her to knock on doors.
Twilight could hear knocks behind her, and Pinkie's cheery voice informing girls that pizza and candy lay waiting in the common room to bribe the residents into attending the meeting.
The mandatory meeting! Twilight felt herself stiffen and grow more determined. This was the first hall meeting of the entire year! They had to set quiet hours and determine hall standards and it was of the utmost importance that everybody on the hall was there and—
knock knock knock
She'd done it.
There was a shuffle, barely audible outside the door, as the music didn't change in volume. The door opened inwards.
A single, shy eye, peeking out from under a veritable mane of long, pastel-pink hair, peered out at her. The owner of the eye and hair was barely visible behind the door.
They stared awkwardly at each other for a few seconds. The girl said something Twilight couldn't hear over the heavy bass.
“I'm sorry, what was that?” Twilight said.
The girl's mouth moved, but she still couldn't hear her.
Twilight forced a stilted laugh. “Didn't quite catch that,” she said.
A fierce blush colored the shy girl's cheeks. She stepped farther out in the hallway with about as much enthusiasm as Twilight would have anticipated from a prisoner on death row.
“Um, can I help you?” The girl asked, still almost too quiet for Twilight to hear.
Twilight nodded and found her words. Thankfully, she'd put together a script so she'd know what to say when she went to get her residents. She just hadn't anticipated it would have taken so long to get to that point.
“Oh! Yes actually.” Twilight hurriedly launched into her script, “Hello, I'm your RA, your resident assistant, Twilight Sparkle. On behalf of the university, welcome. I know it's the first night, and you and your roommate are likely getting unpacked and settled in, but your attendance is required at a mandatory hall meeting right now. It's in the common room for this floor, and there is pizza and candy there.”
“Oh,” the girl replied, “I'm sorry, are we late? I'm sorry if I missed a knock earlier, my roommate plays her music kind of loud— n-not that I'm complaining about my roommate on the first night. Oh dear I didn't mean to sound like...” she trailed off, her voice fading into nothing. The pink-haired girl shrunk back from her and opened the door more, allowing Twilight to see into the room a little better.
The roommate she'd mentioned was lounging in a loose white tank top and sunglasses on a messily made bed (had the covers just been tossed on top of the mattress?), apparently completely at ease with the deep bass notes. The music permeated into the hall; Twilight briefly wondered whether her shaking was from nerves or the vibrations coming up from under her feet.
Twilight felt a premonition of noise complaints in her future.
“It's not a problem,” she said to the poor shy girl, “Just, um, grab your roommate, have her turn her, ah, music, off. Then head down the hall, through the door, and the common room is just to the right.”
The pale girl nodded and murmured some affirmative before retreating and shutting the door. The shy girl seemed completely unequipped to deal with her roommate. Twilight felt a rush of empathy: that was a feeling she could understand well.
Then Twilight was in front of the next door.
408. Four-Oh-Eight.
“Oooh, good job, Twilight!” a familiar voice piped up, far too close to Twilight's ears to be comfortable, “One down, five more rooms to go! I'll go ahead to the meeting and make sure everyone is having fun helping themselves to the pizza and candy while you get the rest of them.”
Pinkie skipped off, quite literally.
Four hundred eight. More divisors than she felt like counting.
knock knock knock
x x x
“Um, my name is Twilight Sparkle.” She was going to murder Pinkie. “I'm the RA for the 'low' end of Faust 4, that's the end farthest from the central part of the building.” Icebreaker introductions were her least favorite activity, barring nightmares of being sent back to kindergarten. “I'm in room 409. I'm, um, eighteen, and—” the same age or younger than all of her residents, she'd checked the sheet, “—um, I haven't declared my major yet, but I'm considering Astronomy, History, Physics, and Psychology. Maybe Mathematics, but—”
Rambling. She was rambling. “Nevermind. Um...”
Last item. What had the last item for the icebreaker been?
Interesting fact. If she didn't kill Pinkie for starting the icebreaker, she would kill her for volunteering Twilight to go first. No time to think of an actually interesting fact. She was already taking too long. “My interesting fact... is, um...”
Say something. Anything. She just had to say one fact and then it would be Pinkie's turn.
“Uh, my parents are both professors here?”
Silence. Her cheeks burned. Muffled voices from the other hall's meeting were clearly audible in the quiet. Everyone was staring.
Dammit. Of all the facts to pick, she had to land on that one. Twilight started eating the piece of pizza she'd grabbed at the start of the meeting and decidedly ignored Pinkie's predictably chipper introduction. Twilight had only known the girl two weeks, since they'd arrived to begin RA training together, but she was quite certain she already knew enough about Pinkie to satisfy her for a lifetime.
Despite her (admittedly not best) efforts to pay attention while the girls from Pinkie's end of the hall introduced themselves, her mind wandered. Twilight idly noted that nobody but her used their last name, but dismissed it. She had items of greater importance to contemplate.
Celestia would be giving her speech at Opening Convocation in four days as the President of the university. Twilight's mentor had told her that this year's speech would be about what she considered the most important part of college, and Twilight couldn't wait to hear it. Whatever it was, she would probably see if she could obtain a transcript afterward.
Classes started in less than a week; Twilight had been looking forward to meeting Professor Starswirl's replacement in the Astronomy department all summer, and it was nearly time. Celestia had been equally vague about who the replacement professor was, saying nothing more than that he or she was extremely capable and had her full confidence. Twilight had begged and pleaded with her to share the information, but Celestia just smiled and said that she would find out on the first day of class.
She also had another room layout to test for efficiency before classes started. Having her bed next to the window meant that the sunrise woke her up unless she had the curtains drawn, but moving it—
“407!” Pinkie called out.
Twilight perked up. This would be the first of her girls' rooms, and she'd already sort of met these particular residents. She quickly picked out a familiar girl with long pink hair sitting on the other side of the room.
The roommate in the sunglasses from earlier was sitting next to her. Twilight saw her elbow the girl with the pink hair, who squeaked and started a very, very quiet introduction.
“Um,” she began tentatively, “I'm Fluttershy. I'm nineteen.” Twilight found herself leaning forward to hear the girl. “I'm going to be a Biology, Pre-Vet major, and... um... yeah...” she trailed off and looked at the floor as though hoping the rest of the room would forget about her.
“Don't forget your interesting fact!” Pinkie stage-whispered, the same obnoxious smile plastered on her face.
“Oh!” Fluttershy squeaked and went bright red. “I'm so sorry! Um... I took a gap year this past year to relocate tigers in Thailand...” She trailed off again, still blushing, then murmured something that sounded like “so cute...”
Next to Fluttershy, her roommate's slack jaw reflected the mood amongst rest of the audience. Twilight had to confess herself surprised. Fluttershy didn't look like she could handle relocating a bunny, let alone a tiger. Tigers. Plural.
“Well, that's kind of hard to follow up,” Fluttershy's roommate began with a grin, “but I hope I make an impression. My name's Vinyl Scratch. I'm nineteen, and I'm gonna be music and philosophy double major.” The girl's effortless smile and social command made Twilight jealous. “Something interesting about me? I'm a professional DJ. Licensed and everything. I'm offering reduced rates for all the girls attending uni here, so hit me up if you're interested.”
There was some interested murmuring, and Twilight thought some of the girls looked as though they'd consider it.
“408!” Pinkie piped up.
Twilight suddenly remembered that she was expected to know all of her girls' names in a fortnight. Her fingers twitched for a notebook and a pencil. Why hadn't she brought something on and with which to take notes? How was she supposed to remember any of these girls? Why had she let Pinkie hold their roll sheet? Why had she spent the afternoon rearranging her room (again) instead of setting up her printer to make a copy?
A pair of girls shifted a few seats over to Twilight's right, and she turned just in time for a pale girl to start her introduction with a flip of purple hair.
“My name,” she began, “is Rarity. I'm eighteen, intending to double major in fashion design and business.” Twilight ignored whatever her fact was —something about sewing— and focused on trying to burn her name into her memory. Fashion. Rarity. Hair flip. She could do this. Rarity finished and turned slightly towards her roommate with an expression of perfectly polite, pained interest.
“My name's Applejack,” the girl said with a broad, honest smile, “I'm twenty, which makes me a mite older than most'a y'all. I'm also fixin' to major in business, though I'll be partnerin' that up with agriculture; m'not much for fashion myself.” Rarity twitched as Applejack paused to adjust her hat with a shrug.
“As for somethin' interestin' 'bout me... well, I'm an apple farmer, and I just so happen to have a birthmark on my shoulder that's kinda apple-shaped.” Applejack turned so more of the room could see her shoulder. Twilight wasn't close enough to determine if the shape on Applejack's tanned, muscular shoulder was really apple-shaped. She was at a bad angle, and it mostly looked like a circular splotch. Maybe she needed glasses.
There were a couple of quiet snickers around the room, though Applejack didn't acknowledge them as she reverted to how she had been sitting before. Admittedly, Twilight didn't think she would have any trouble remembering her name. Applejack, apple farmer cowgirl (and hat), apple birthmark. It was all a little too much, if she was being honest.
“410!” Pinkie announced.
The rooms quickly started to blend together after that.
410 had a pretty pink-haired French girl with a snooty accent Twilight could barely decipher. She couldn't even fathom how the girl spelled her name, it was so muddled. She was an international student from Paris. Her roommate was a girl with strabismus, bright eyes, and blonde hair. She'd said something about muffins for her interesting fact.
“411!”
Something about Chemistry and liking dogs roomed with a girl who liked fishing. Twilight's fingers twitched to take notes.
“412!”
Two English majors. Why hadn't she brought a notebook and pen?
“413!”
“414! Hey, this one's the same forwards and backwards!”
Twilight startled. She'd completely zoned out for 413! Suddenly, her heart was pounding; she could feel it in her ears. She hadn't been paying attention at all. She looked around the room quickly. She couldn't even pick out who'd been talking.
“415!”
Dammit! She'd spent all of the time during the girls from 414 panicking about the girls from 413.
She was doing it again. One of the girls from 415 was saying something about horseback riding. Twilight took a deep breath. She would review 413 through 415 later. She just needed to be focused and prepared for...
“416!” Pinkie's voice had yet to lose an ounce of cheeriness.
Twilight summoned all the focus she could. Her fingers twitched for a writing implement. A girl shifted and cleared her throat to Twilight's left. Twilight blinked twice.
Rainbow hair definitely wasn't forgettable. As the girl ran a hand casually through her short, prismatic locks, Twilight decided the look, natural or not, was quite striking.
“The name's Rainbow Dash, and I respond to my first or last name,” she started with a casual smile that Twilight envied. “I'm 18 years old, and I have no idea what I'm gonna major in. I'll figure it out as I go— always do.” Dash shrugged. “For an interesting fact... I do track and diving, and I'm the 100 meter dash record holder for my state.”
Twilight wasn't entirely sure what Rainbow Dash had accomplished, but it sounded fast. Between her (Rainbow) hair and her (Dash) record, Twilight didn't think she'd forget her. The hair, at the very least, would give her a hint.
The girl next to Rainbow Dash was her antithesis. Long, dark greyish-black hair and pale skin while Dash was all, well, rainbow and tan. The girl's crisp button-up blouse was about as far from Dash's athletic top as Twilight could imagine. The other girl had an expression that made Twilight think she couldn't care less about Dash's accomplishments.
“My name,” she began, calm and stately, “is Octavia. I am twenty one, planning on majoring in music. I'm intending to take the three year track to graduation. An interesting fact about me...” Octavia paused a moment to tap the small pink bow on her white headband before continuing, a slight smile playing about her lips. Twilight thought she caught Octavia's eyes flicker momentarily towards Vinyl Scratch. “I play the cello and piano, and I hate techno music and dubstep.”
Twilight was pretty sure the music she heard pounding out of Vinyl's speakers counted as one or the other of those genres. She wasn't entirely sure. She glanced towards the blue-haired girl next to Fluttershy.
Vinyl took her sunglasses off, revealing eerie, angry red eyes. Twilight briefly wondered if she wore colored contacts.
Half the room was looking at Octavia. The other half was looking at Vinyl. Pinkie seemed to be folding an origami boat out of the roll sheet.
Vinyl clicked her tongue, eyebrows narrowed. “Ex-cuuuuse me, Princess? I ain't here to pick fights, but if you're startin' one, I ain't gonna shy from finishing it.”
Octavia bristled, and Twilight thought she saw her eye twitch. Octavia cleared her throat, then opened her mouth to voice a rebuttal and—
“417!” Pinkie declared, holding her boat upside down to read the roll sheet.
The tension dissipated for the most part. Octavia looked politely at whoever was talking, and Vinyl put her sunglasses back on with a huff.
The last half dozen introductions blazed by. Twilight gave up trying to remember anybody from the last three rooms and let herself zone out. She figured could just borrow the roll sheet from Pinkie when she put name tags up on the doors at her end of the hall. She'd have to ask Pinkie to unfold it first, though.
“That's it, everybody!” Pinkie announced after the last girl finished her interesting fact. “Now it's time for me to stop talking so much. Twilight is gonna go over the hall, building, and campus rules that you need to know. Rule time!”
Twilight grinned and leapt to her feet, landing somewhat unsteadily. About half a moment later, she remembered that nobody else had stood to say anything, not even Pinkie. Twilight felt her cheeks warm slightly before she forced her embarrassment down.
Lecturing was what she did best. Lecturing was always best done while standing. If any of her residents had an issue with that, she would stand and defend it until she died.
“Thank you all for your attention!” Twilight began, feeling as though she was making several assumptions of the room. But, it was like Celestia had always said, to speak with the authority you want, and project the respect and interest you deserve. “You'll find this quite fascinating, allow me to assure you.”
x x x
“That covers all the rules you need to be familiar with!” Twilight finished. She looked out at her audience. Only one or two girls seemed to have drifted off, heads leaned against the sides of couches. Suddenly aware that her lecture had ended, she felt incredibly awkward and sat back down. “Does anybody have any questions?” She hurriedly added.
Silence. Some staring. A cough.
“Okie dokie lokie!” piped Pinkie, still (somehow) as exuberant as ever. “Now it's time for us to vote on the hall's quiet hours for weekdays and weekends!”
Instantly, the entire room lurched forward, the sleeping girls woke, and over a dozen voices started speaking at once. Twilight caught snatches of phrases, but was unable to follow any distinct speaker.
“—need time to study during—”
“—gonna be getting in late—”
“—to practice my cello—”
“—can't sleep if there's any—”
“—need music to concen—”
“—gotta get up early for prac—”
“—when do campus parties usually—”
“Shut UP! Geez, come on guys!”
The entire room quieted and heads swiveled to watch Vinyl, who had shouted.
“Ah, technically we're all girls here, darling,” a prim voice objected somewhere to Twilight's right. A quick glance confirmed her suspicion that it was Applejack's fashionista roommate. Rare... Uncommon, something.
Across the room, Vinyl snorted. “Yeah, yeah. Just had to get everybody to shut up. Let's discuss this rationally. I'm in favor of quiet hours from 2 am to 10 am. Anybody else?”
Twilight blanched as murmurs broke out across the room, but stayed silent and tried to mark which (thankfully few) girls were nodding in agreement. Even if she didn't have their names down, it would be good to know who the party girls were by sight at least.
“Are you suggesting those hours for weekends or weeknights?” Pinkie asked, surprisingly calm sounding. To Twilight's surprise, it was even a logical question.
Vinyl shrugged. “Uh, weekdays?”
Silence.
Then the room exploded again.
Twilight sighed and sat back, leaning against her hands. There was some shouting, including some very spirited French from the international student (which triggered a shocked gasp from Applejack's roommate). Twilight picked out Octavia and Vinyl yelling at each other from across the room. Twilight idly considered whether or not she would have to fill out paperwork if they killed each other during the year. They hadn't covered homicide in training.
BWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEHH!!!
Several girls shrieked, and Twilight clapped her hands around her ears, nearly falling over. A few seats over from her, Pinkie had pulled out an airhorn (from somewhere...?) and sounded it off.
Holding the airhorn in a mildly threatening manner, Pinkie was still grinning. “All right, girls,” she said, “Let's discuss this like adults. We're all in college now, so let's act like it!” Throughout this, her smile still didn't fade, but she had a determined glint in her eyes.
Twilight felt this was a good time for her to step in. Metaphorically, of course. She wasn't standing up again unless she had a good lecture topic.
“Um, Pinkie's right, girls,” she said, sitting up a little straighter, “You all are probably exhausted from your first day on campus, but we really ought to figure out the quiet hours. As soon as we do, the meeting is over and we'll stop talking at you.”
Instantly, everyone seemed a little more focused. Twilight allowed herself a self-satisfied smile.
To Twilight's left, she a familiar boyish voice spoke first. “Look,” Rainbow Dash said, “As an athlete, I'm up for practice early nearly every weekday morning. I know I'm not the only one here, right?” She paused, and Twilight could see several other girls nodding their heads in her peripheral vision. “I won't make much noise getting up in the morning, but I'd like to get a decent night's rest. On weeknights, I think quiet hours should start at 11 pm. I don't care when they end.”
There were some murmurs of agreement and some of dissent. Next to Dash, Octavia cleared her throat.
“I find myself in agreement with my roommate, actually,” she said, “Rising early is also a habit for me, and I like to practice my cello in the morning before breakfast. I think that quiet hours should end at 7 o'clock in the morning.”
At this, there was a snort from across the room. “And what about those of us who sleep in a bit? I don't want to wake up at some godawful morning hour to the sound of your cello.”
Octavia bristled. Twilight had to admit to herself that watching them go at it was actually somewhat amusing. “Are you saying there's something wrong with how my cello sounds?”
To Twilight's surprise, Vinyl didn't get angry. “No,” she said, “it's just that everybody has different tastes, which you ought to respect.”
There was a distinct pause. Octavia's glare diminished to a contemplative frown.
“I think ze weeknight hours should be from one in ze morning to nine in ze morning,” the French girl declared, “and ze weekend hours should be from three in ze morning to noon.”
Twilight could see Vinyl, along with some other girls, nod in agreement.
“I don't care about the weekend hours,” Dash said with a shrug, “There isn't usually going to be morning practice on the weekends.”
“For the record, this discussion is not all about you!” a clipped voice interjected. Twilight (and the rest of the room) turned to stare at Applejack's roommate— Rarity.
Dash looked offended. “I never said it was, dude.”
“Perhaps,” Rarity replied, “but all that you've contributed to this discussion is that you don't care about the hours if they're not going to directly affect you— most selfish. Now, I may keep later hours myself, but to agree on quiet hours for the hall, which will apply to all of us, we're going to need a compromise.”
Rarity crossed her arms before adding, “Also: I am not a dude.”
Around the room, various small groups murmured amongst themselves, though the volume was kept low. Nobody wanted Pinkie to fire her air horn again.
“Well,” Applejack said after a few moments, addressing the room at large, “I don't necessarily agree with her manner of confrontation, but my roommate here is right. We need a compromise, so let's saddle up and figure it out.” She nodded to Dash and Octavia. “Now, I gather that y'all and most of the athletes need to be gettin' yer rest 'cause y'all have stuff to do in the mornin's. I'm an early sleeper, early riser m'self, so I understand that fine.” Then she tipped her hat towards Vinyl and the French girl. “An' y'all keep later hours, and there ain't nothin' wrong with that either.
“Now, let's figure ourselves out some manner of compromise. Mornin' folk, y'all seem to have more vested in the weekdays. Night owls, y'all have more goin' on during the weekends. So why don't we figure out some hours in the middle that'll make all y'all happy enough.” Applejack paused to adjust her hat. “I'm suggestin' eleven-thirty to eight in the mornin' for weekday quiet hours and half-past one to ten the mornin' as weekend quiet hours. Anybody got herself any objections?”
There was a tension in the room, and Twilight could see several girls looked skeptical.
“Don't forget!” Twilight added quickly, “Quiet hours aren't to dictate when you sleep or anything, they're just hours in which we all ought to be conscientious of how much noise we're making, particularly in the hall, so as not to disturb other rooms.”
Twilight smiled nervously, but, with this reminder, everyone seemed to accept Applejack's compromise.
“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie piped up, “All in favor of the Faust 4 quiet hours being eleven-thirty to eight on weekdays and one-thirty to ten on weekends?”
There was a smattering of raised hands and plenty of nods. Twilight would have voted, but,as an RA, she felt it more appropriate to refrain.
“All against?” Pinkie asked.
There were a few sighs and some shrugs. Most of the room had been in support, so Twilight supposed there wasn't much point for those who disagreed in raising a fuss.
“Looks like we're all done here!” Pinkie declared, “Feel free to grab one last slice of pizza or a handful of candy before you go. Get some good rest, there's lots lots more stuff going on tomorrow!”
Twilight sighed in relief as the room started to empty. She stood up and stretched. Thankfully, they'd said in training that the first hall meeting was always the longest. She and Pinkie didn't technically need to have another one until before Winter break, though they were suggested to have an extra one mid-semester.
Pinkie said goodbye to girls individually as they left, calling nearly all of them by name and mentioning some individual quality about each one. Twilight shook her head in grudging admiration as she started to pick up various candy wrappers and paper plates girls had forgotten on the floor and couches. Pinkie Pie was quite possibly insane. Twilight had, at various points in the past two weeks, speculated on the probability that she was on drugs. Despite all this, there was a quality about her, the way that she remembered everyone's name and something related to them, and the way that she seemed to actually care about them all, that rendered her near impossible for Twilight to actually hate.
Didn't mean she was all there, upstairs, of course, but she was a good person. Even if she'd started that damn icebreaker game. Even if she kept air horns on her person. Despite keeping air horns on her person.
Twilight finished picking up some trash by the door and dropped it in the can nearby. Turning around and stepping back to see if she and Pinkie had any more clean-up to do, Twilight crashed into somebody.
Twilight lost her balance and nearly fell over, but managed to catch herself at the very last moment. She started blurting apologies before her feet were back under her.
“I'm so so sorry! I should have looked before I turned around and started walking and—”
Twilight stopped as she realized the girl she'd bumped into was unhurt, laughing, and someone whose name she'd actually remembered. The latter alone was enough to give her pause.
“Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asked, certain that the short hair with warm colors in front and cool colors in back was something she wouldn't mistake, but too accustomed to mixing up and forgetting names to trust her memory.
Dash stopped laughing and nodded. “That's me, Twilight. I thought I was gonna have to catch you for a sec, but you managed not to fall over.”
Twilight blushed and smiled awkwardly. “Yeah, um, I'm sorry, Dash. I really didn't mean to crash into you. Um, I hope you have a good night?”
Dash just chuckled and brushed a spare lock of hair away from her eyes, which were a vivid rose-ish pink. “Thanks, Twi. I'm sure you're gonna be a fun RA.” Then she winked with a wide grin, and it was such a cool, effortless expression that Twilight thought she would die just looking at it. “Before you crashed into me, I was just coming over to tell you that you look really cute when you're awkward.”
Twilight's face was on fire. A million racing thoughts stopped to converge on a single word.
“Bwah?”
Dash smiled. “That's the face. 'Night, Twi.” Then she walked out the door, munching on one last slice of pizza as she tossed a soda can over her shoulder into the recycling bin. Twilight could only blink at the space where she'd been standing.
“Oooooh,” Pinkie cooed in a sing-song voice, “Twilight has an ad-mire-er-er!”
Twilight was too shocked to even glare at Pinkie.
“... Bwah?”
A/N: And thus starts Twilight's proper realization that being an RA will hold further surprises than the fact that they didn't cover knocking on doors in training. Every comment is really appreciated. I'd love to know what you all think. Constructive criticism is welcome.
Preread by PonIver and a stoic English major friend. (Thank you both so much!)
Next Chapter: Rarity, speeches, and bonsai trees.
Bwah?
949904
Bwah (interjection): And expression of surprise, disbelief, and general "... whaaatt just happened" used when the speaker is unable to properly form words that are actually words.
eerm why girls on cover looks like they are not girls, i mean, look at the faces
Okay, I clicked on this story out of boredom, and figured it would be absolutely horrible and pointless... Needless to say, you have caught my attention. It is a well written, interesting story, and I can't wait to see where this goes in the future. Well done, well done indeed. You've got a thumbs up, fave, and a watch from me.
You did a pretty damn good job of keeping both Twilight and Pinkie in character. Especially Twilight. Loved that
949920
Everyone has different artistic preferences and every artist has their own style. I happen to use a more realistic style, sorry if it's not to your taste, though the presence of boobs is normally a pretty good indicator of a character being female, and the presence of a face is a pretty good indicator of a character having a face.
949951
Wow, thanks so much for the comment! I'm really glad you like the story. I hope not to disappoint. I'm especially happy you thought I kept them in character. I put a lot of thought into considering how the two of them would interact in the roles of RAs, both with each other and with their residents.
950023
but they look too guyish even rarity
so AWESOME.
I look forward to more chapters.
950023 Ok, while the face comment that you said was funny, I think what he meant to say was that some of the faces may or may not look a bit manish, not to insult of anything, I've seen a few artists do, I'm just trying to clear stuff up. Anyway, good job on the story, I hope to read more
Ew, Human Tag.
*Reads*
Give me more.
And they do look like they hgave male faces, but who cares?
Pinkie doesn't.
Fluttershy went to thailand to relocate Tigers?
Fluttershy is now best human.
Oh goodness Rarity and Applejack, Vinyl and Octavia, Fleur and Rarity? I can see some fun drama on the horizon. I love humainzed fics and I love college stories so I definitely enjoyed this first chapter, and I find it funny how this is the second humanized story involving the mane 6 in college with a TwiDash romantic subplot (the other being The Sleepless Brony's 'Ponvyville University') So yes not my ship but I'm still looking forward to seeing where this all goes.
Well shoot, now I'm all sorts of interested.
Since you always do this to me: you already know how I feel about the chapter, but KICK ASS GIRL!
Can't wait to see some more crazy random Pinkie!
950179
I was being a little snarky because the comment wasn't offering anything useful, but I understand how the style looks. I'm glad you enjoyed the story though.
950264 950357
Haha, you, sir, have the best of reactions. I know the human tag is rife with all kinds of dreck, and I'm hoping to put out a solid offering that people can enjoy.
950569
Nice catch spotting Fleur there! I wasn't sure if people would realize it was her, but I wanted to make sure she got a mention so she wouldn't come out of the blue in the next chapter. I'm glad you like the story!
950593
Don't you hate it when that happens?
951970
Cool so I guessed right, I figured it had to be with the pink hair and speaking French (and I love how Derpy is her roommate) I don't recall any others at the moment, then again you have plenty to work with as it is so yea I can't wait to see where all this goes (I especially like how Fluer seems to be a night owl like Vinyl)
THIS...
~YOU!
I love this so much. Cool idea, great execution! I only found one thing I had a problem with, and it can be fixed really easily, which is that Pinkie says "Okie Dokie Lokie" instead of "Okie Dokie Loki" (Loki like the Norse god, and the villain in the Avengers movie). I don't even like TwiDash (more of a FlutterDash gal myself ) but I'm super looking forward to RD's forwardness with her RA (see what I did there, eh, eh?) I am, however, a total OctaScratch shipper, so I love their pent-up-sexual-frustration, you're-infuriating, I-want-to-kill-you-and-kiss-you-at-the-same-time banter. Can't wait to read the next chapter!
goood goood, very good indeeed
950264
the human tag tends to be what actually pulls me into any story
952527
THIS! ME!
I prefer the spelling to be consistent with 'ie' endings for all three parts, but I can see why that would be humorous. I'm glad you like the story. I'm not confirming any ships but TwiDash for this fic (so far), but I can promise you there will be lots of Tavi and Scratch interacting in passive aggressive and aggressive manners. Actual homicide is unlikely, however.
952694
Thank you!
952925
Everyone has their own tastes. I'm rather fond of human fics (I should hope so since I'm writing one) but I don't find a lot that I like, so I decided to write to fill that gap!
952527
Always glad to see another FlutterDash shipper, and I too enjoyed the BST between Octi and Vinyl.
Well, this looks very promising. I've always wanted to read fic like this one and enjoy it, and this looks like the perfect chance . I also like that Fleur and Derpy are roommates.
The only thing bugging me is Rarity's age, I mean, I get the rest of them (Pinkie, RD and Twi around the same age, Fluttershy a year older than Pinkie, and AJ older than her), but to me she'd be the oldest of them. Sure, in-show she has a lot of dramatic fits, but she acts with maturity in most situations. She also has her own business, has considered marriage more than once, and if her previous relationship with her sister is anything to go by, there is quite an age gape between them compared to AJ and Applebloom. I'm sorry if this sounds like a petty issue, but it's something I wanted to get off my chest
Bwah Bwah Bwah. All they say is Bwah Bwah Bwah.
Good story.
952925>>951970
I usually avoid Human stories... But there are some good ones out there. Such as this one.
The reason for my avoidance is that I already read fics from other fandoms based on humans, so I'd rather read stories about MLP with ponies, not humans.
If that makes sense.
953263
Haha, same here! So I decided to write it
Not a petty issue at all; I'm happy to hear your thoughts. As for Rarity's (and the rest of the mane 6) age(s), I decided to determine ages based on the roles I wanted them to have in the story and their backgrounds. This, unfortunately, meant tossing out a few small canon details like Pinkie being a year younger than Shy.
I personally never viewed Rarity's distance from Sweetie as a product of age so much of differing personalities. Add in the fact that AJ and Applebloom live together on the farm (working together all the time, etc) while Sweetie lives with their parents and only comes to visit Rarity on occasion, and I feel their differences in relationship aren't too unfathomable.
953865
That's a good point. Maybe I jumped to conclusions, but I find it odd that they were so distant, Ponyville is a small town after all. Still, that Sweetie is a schoolkid while Rarity has a boutique and whatnot must surely mean something.
Anyways, if it's for the sake of the story, I guess it must be worth it . As long as Rarity doesn't turns out to be a valley girl or something
I'm so happy this is good. I need more good Schoolfics
This... this is some good stuff. And it's Twidash so it's even better!
Thumbs up and a fave. No spelling or grammatical errors whatsoever, plus I like you're writing style. It flows very smoothly to me.
Da. Was good.
I'll write a more complete review once more chapters are up but for now know that I enjoyed this chapter. I particularly like the way your able to dip into Twilight's thoughts without seemingly any effort.
Also I have to admit that I'm not a fan of the cover art.
956548
Thanks! I'm glad that you like it!!
956726
Haha, why thank you! I hope you enjoy the TwiDash. I'm an English major, so I try to hold myself to a pretty high standard for my copyediting. Feel free to let me know if I've missed any spelling or grammar mistakes in the future. I'm glad you like my writing style though, I'm quite fond of it myself
957139
Thank you! I'm glad that you like it. I should have the second chapter up sometime this week.
As for the cover art, I know my style isn't for everybody. I'm happier that you like the writing.
957826 Heck yea, I'll enjoy the Twidash. Anybody who knows me can tell you I love Twidash, even says so on my profile.
956726
I'll take 2% of the credit for that compliment, but you should see how good her writing is before she sends it to me, and how awful my writing is before I send it to her. This girl works miracles!
Don't mind me, I'm just going to be silently creeping this story .
I hardly ever read stories like this, but I figured I would give this a shot. Have to say, you peaked my interest and earned my respect. I can't wait to see more of Twilight's awkward moments. I never thought knocking on a door would be that difficult until I read this.
I just want to let you know that I am really enjoying this story so far, especially since it reminds me of the girls I lived with in my freshman year of college...down to the DJ who hated when the girl across the hall from her practiced her instrument in her room.
I can't wait to read more!
960839
Oh you. Thank you. But be careful about those compliments or I'll get a big head
962299
Creepers gotta creep. Feel free.
962593
I'm glad you like it! I have to admit that I get this happy little feeling when someone reads this and likes it when they hadn't anticipated doing so. I hope to continue to peak your interest.
963207
Wow, that's eerily familiar sounding! You'll have to let me know in future chapters if more similarities crop up.
957826
Eh screw it, I'll write that review now. I've got the spare time and nothing better to do.
The opening to the story isn't particularly good. Indeed I'd go as far to say that it's genuinely bad. The idea of Twilight being nervous to knock on a door isn't particularly amusing and the way you've written it feels pedantic, even though that was sort of the point. Twilight putting off knocking on the door simply wasn't funny. The whole opening scene felt bleh to me.
After that you introduce Fluttershy with the all but traditional at this point "I didn't quite catch that" scene. While I have nothing against it and it makes sense given the situation and context, it feels almost like your including it for the sake of having it, as opposed to using it as a way to characterize either Twilight or Fluttershy. After that you get into the brunt of the conversation and it feels much more natural. Now it seems like your using this as an opportunity to make us like both characters rather than just retreading the show's material.
Another thing I've noticed is your using character names a lot. Perhaps you should vary that up a little by occasionally replacing Twilight's name with a title like the RA or maybe the purple haired girl or something like that a little more often.
"Faust 4"
Nice name drop by the way.
Here's a mistake:
"Classes started less than a week;"
I think you mean "Classes started IN less than a week;"
OK the character introductions were well done, setting up the stories primary characters personality's there conflicts and there relationships pretty much right off the bat. Though you could have done so slower, I understand and appreciate that your trying to jump into the brunt of the story rapidly.
"Applejack, apple farmer cowgirl (and hat), apple birthmark. It was all a little too much, if she was being honest."
Nice drop of the character and corresponding element there. Though I'm not certain that last comma is strictly necessary. But I could be wrong about that.
Not sure if it's your intent or not but Octavia comes across as a bit of a bitch here. Maybe that's the angle your taking with her characterization so that might not be a problem, but just letting you know that she seems condescending and like she wants to pick a fight.
OK so at this stage I'm enjoying the way your characterizing Twilight. Her un-sureness might become grating if you repeat it too much but for the majority of the first chapter it's charming and likable.
I've said it before but I'll say it again: You should really try to improve the name variation. Particularly for Twilight because her name gets repeated a lot.
"A few seats over from her, Pinkie had pulled out an airhorn (from somewhere...?) and sounded it off."
You really don't need the last part of that sentence. All the readers already know that the air horn is the source of the noise. You saying "it sounded off" seems more like your describing the sound the air horn makes, not stating that the air horn was just used.
To Twilight's surprise, Vinyl didn't get angry. “No,” she said, “it's just that everybody has different tastes, which you ought to respect.”
It's unusual to see Vinyl portrayed as the voice of reason in this particular pairing. Normally its Octavia that serves to ground Vinyls eccentricities. But I like the way you've reversed that a little bit so Vinyl's the relaxed one who makes Octavia seem irrational. It's a slightly refreshing take on a common pairing.
“I think ze weeknight hours should be from one in ze morning to nine in ze morning,” the French girl declared, “and ze weekend hours should be from three in ze morning to noon.”
Now maybe it's just me, but I thought a German accent was the one thick with the ze's.
I'm glad to see Applejack being the most mature one in the room. It matches her characterization in the show very well but I have to point out that it sort of puts her in a stronger leadership position than Twilight at the moment. Maybe not what your going for and maybe just me over thinking it, but yeah that's how it looks at the moment.
Ah Twidash. That means the pairings at this stage will probably be Twidash, Octascratch and Rarijack. Normally I prefer Appledash but I've enjoyed quite a few Twidash or Rarijack fics in the past so I think this seems fine to me. Anywho the opening interactions between all the shipped pairs is perfectly fine for now, but there's really not enough for me to go on here to make any strong judgement on your ability to write interpersonal chemistry. However at the moment it all looks good to me.
And that's the review. This is what happens when I'm bored. Also don't go expecting one as long as this for every chapter. I hope this has been helpful.
Personally, I prefer TwiShy, but TwiDash is acceptable.
As for everything else, this is a good start, and you've caught my attention.
963347
Thanks for the thorough read! I love getting feedback like this.
Regarding the opening: I can see where you're coming from. I'll admit the opening is slow. I knew the icebreaker scene would have introductions coming fast and hard, and I wanted something slower paced in the beginning that would establish Twilight, Pinkie, Shy, and Scratch (at least a little) so they wouldn't be "new" to the reader in the next scene. You can probably skip it and start at the icebreaker scene and appreciate the chapter just fine.
As far as Shy and Twi's first meeting, I originally wrote it differently, but changed it to mimic their first exchange from the show as something of a shout out. Not particularly clever or original, I'll be the first to admit. If I come back to edit the chapter, I might revert to the previous version.
The character name usage is mostly my writing style, and isn't likely to change much. Writing Twi as "the RA" or "the purple haired girl" would distant the reader from her, and as this chapter is from her perspective (albeit in 3rd person) I generally try to avoid addresses like that. I'll watch the name-usage-density in the future, however.
Their dorm building name is 'Faust' and having them live on hall 4 as a shout out to FiM being gen 4 was too easy to pass up.
Mistake fixed. Thanks for catching it!
Tavi and Scratch should continue to surprise. Twi gaining confidence will be part of her character arc. I... actually have no idea how a French accent should sound. I will consult with my French major friend before the next chapter. AJ is older and wiser, but stll has stuff to learn.
I'm not confirming any ships but TwiDash for the fic yet, but I promise Tavi and Scratch interactions and lots of Rarity and Applejack butting heads.
Thank you very much for the review! It really has been helpful to read, and while I won't expect a gem like this every chapter, I'll appreciate them whenever they come along.
982634
I'm glad you appreciate my review but seriously, don't go expecting another one like this to pop up every chapter. I only write these monstrously huge ones when I'm bored. And I already have someone else who's called dibs on my next fit of boredom review.
So yeah. Glad to help and I'm liking this story so far.
Oh, this is really well done.
Love your Twi/Pinkie characterisation as well as the whole introduction phase. And Twidash is also a plus point in my book. Twi´s "bwah?" was adorable to heaven and back.
Heya, don't normally read humanized stuff, but this looks really interesting so far! I notice it hasn't updated in a while, which is a little disconcerting, but if it continues I'll be sure to give the rest of it a read. Great characterization (Pinkie being an RA makes a lot of sense) and the shenanigans with all the different roommates was entertaining. Great work