//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Luna goes to School // by Timmy Turner //------------------------------// "Rise and shine, Princess Luna. It's time for school," Twilight called out.  Waking up in the mornings was always a really hard thing for Luna to do, especially considering on a regular day she slept through this time. When Luna finally managed to come to full consciousness, she smelt the aurora of cooked eggs and fresh waffles. "Mmm, that smell is simply magnificent, Twilight," Luna complimented. "Thank you princess, but actually my assistant Spike did it all. It's him you should be thanking" Turning to the small dragon, Luna said, "Well thank you so much Spike, for both breakfast and allowing me to sleep in your bed." A hint of red appeared onthe young dragons cheek. "It is my honor Princess Luna." "That reminds me," Luna remembered. "Please just call me Luna or Moonshine while I am staying here. I want to be treated just like anypony else." "As you wish, Prin.. Luna," Twilight replied. "So Luna, are you excited for today."  "Well, I guess that's one way of saying it," replied Luna. " I suppose nervous is better fitting for the way I feel." Luna couldn't understand it. She hadn't felt nervous like this in decades. Even as Nightmare Moon attempting to conquer Equestria, she felt fully confident in her abilities, yet not today.  "What is there to worry about?" Luna thought to herself. "You've done thousands of harder things, and even saved Equestria once or twice. Simply going to school with fillies should be a cakewalk." Yet even after reassuring herself, that feelin of nervousness remained. "..Don't you agree Luna?" she heard Spike ask. A puzzled look came across Luna's face as she tried to piece together what Spike had asked. With no way of finding out what the question was, she did what anypony would do in this situation, simply nodded her head and agreed. "Oh I'm so glad you agree with me!" Spike said excitedly. "Teilight said I shouldn't do it, but with you're approval I will! Now all I have to is find two  ducks, a baby seal, a surfboard, and first edition copy of the Mysterious Mare-do-well comic. Well, off to Fluttershy's!" With a quick skip, Spike was out the door. "If you don't mind me saying," Twilight began. "You really shouldn't encourage him to do that. He is after all, just a baby dragon."  Still having no idea what the hay the question was, she answered, "I..I'm sorry. I will keep that in mind in the future."  "It's fine, what's done is done." Twilight answered. "I just hope he can find a good lion tamer for the job." Luna simply looked at Twilight in wonderment. What could Spike had possibly asked? Twilight looked at the clock, and saw the time. "I think we ought to get going, you don't want to be late on your first day do you?" "Of course not. Let's get going!" Although the walk from the library to the school was not a far one, it seemed like an eternity for Luna. With each step towards the school, she became more and more nervous. "Get a hold of yourself," Luna thought. But no matter what she did, the nervousness remained. As they neared the schoolhouse, Twilight and Luna could her the joyful screams of the fillies playing on the playground outside the school. Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Bell saw the two approaching and went over to greet them.  "Hiya there Moonshine," welcomed Applebloom. "School is goin' to start any second now." Simultaneously after this the school bell went off from inside the classroom. "Right on que," exclaimed Sweetie Bell. " Let's all head to class. You're going to love our teacher. She is really nice!" Upon entering the class, Luna couldn't help but notice how nice and inviting the room was. It seemed like with that all her nervousness vanished.  "Ok class, everyone please take a seat. I'm Ms. Cherilee, and the reason I say this is because I've been told we have a new student. Would you please introduce yourself?" In an instant, all those nervous feelings returned, as Luna stood out of her desk. "Uhm, hi. My name is Lu..I MEAN Moonshine." With her name he heard a few smirks from the back of the classroom. "I'm, Uhm, visiting from Canterlot for a little while." "Well that wasn't too hard," Luna thought to herself assuming  she was done.  "Thank you Moonshine. Now does anyone have any questions for Moonshine?" Ms. Cherilee asked. With that, a shower of hooves rose from the fillies, and with that all of Luna's confidence was washed away. "Applebloom, you may ask first," the teacher Stated. "So Moonshine, how do you know Twilight?" Luna stood there dumbfounded at the question asked. She hadn't even thought of that Previously. "Well...I'm..Uhm..her niece." Luna said hoping her classmates would buy it. "Oh I see! I have plenty of relatives across equestria!" Applebloom responded. "Whew," Luna thought. "Thank Celestia they bought it.  Ms. Cherilee noticed another hand go up. "Diamond Tiara, you're question is next." The pink pony rose out of her seat, catching the attention of the entire class. With a smirk on her face, she turned to Luna, and said, "I couldn't help but notice you have an..unusual.. Cutie Mark. How did you get a moon Cutie Mark anyway?" Luna stood there for a second, trying to think of a good Cutie Mark story. Noticing the slight pause, Diamond Tiara said in a chiding voice, "What's wrong, you don't know how you got your own Cutie Mark." Diamond Tiara and a few other fillies began to laugh, until Ms. Cherilee put a stop to it. "Now now girls, I'm sure Moonshine knows how she got her mark. Please, continue Moonshine." Luna stood there for one more second before stuttering out, "Uhm, well I..uh.. Got my Cutie Mark while... Using a telescope?" Her answer sounded more like a question than an answer, and even she didn't believe it. "Oh. Well, that sounds very... nice. Thank you Moonshine," Ms. Cherilee said, wanting to break the silence. "What a lame way to get a Cutie Mark," Diamond Tiara whispered, just loud enough for Luna to hear. After exchanging a few giggles with Silver Spoon, they returned there attention to the teacher.  "Using a telescope? Really?" Luna thought to herself. "That's the best you could come up with?"  Upset that her first day wasn't going as planned, Luna laid her head on her desk in despair. For the rest of the class, nothing else really happened. During the science section she noticed a minor error in saying that the moon was only good for lighting up the night sky, but as controller of the moon and everything it does, she knew that the moon was responsible for much more. However she felt that correcting the teacher would merely call more attention to herself, and decided to let it slide. As the school day came to a close, Luna was depressed by the outcome. She had made no friends, no new relationships, and had managed to embarrass her self in front of the entire class. So upset at what had just happened, she sat on the swings in the playground to sulk. Shortly after sitting down, Luna was approached by the CMC's. "Hey Moonshine," Sweetie Belle said. "We just wanted to say that don't worry about Diamond Tiara." "Yeah," Scootaloo joined in. "Sometimes she can be a real Horse." "Thank you." Luna said. Although she felt a little better, her mood had not changed that much. "Also," Applebloom said. "We wanted to invite you to our clubhouse tomorrow! Were having our weekly Cutie Mark Crusadors meeting, where we decide how we are going to get our Cutie Marks! We'd love for you to join us." Upon hearing this, Luna's face lit up with excitement. "Really? I'd love to come! Thank you so much!" "No problem," Applebloom replied. "We're going to head over to Sugar Cube Corner, do you want to come?" "I would love too!" Luna said excitedly.  As the four friends headed off to Sugar Cube Corner, a smile appeared on Luna's face. "Maybe today wasn't so bad after all."