//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 - Schooling // Story: Glint Stones: Visit // by Middle Ground //------------------------------// Sparx and Ashes are now spending time with Apple Bloom at her family farm with her big sister, Applejack. She was busy with her appl-bucking and harvesting the apples from her orchard. Apple Bloom was helping her all the while. Sparx and Ashes just watched as they sat against the nearby fence. "Ugh...this sucks. I had more fun back at the rock farm than in this town. And all we got were crazy mares chasing us and we couldn't defend ourselves." Sparx was really bored and annoyed. "C'mon, Sparx...! This place isn't so bad. We just got here. We just gotta give this town a chance. The ponies are nice too." "Yeah...when they're not chasing us for a date. Whatever that is...." Sparx was still un-convinced. "Hey Mister Sparx, can you help us?!" Apple Bloom called to them as she pointed at an apple at the highest point of one of the apple trees. "I can knock that little rascal down myself!" Applejack bucked the apple tree again with her strong rear-legs with all her might, but the apple remained in place. This began to frustrate her. Sparx gave an un-enthusiastic sigh and yanked the apple out of it's place with his magic and gently directed it into one of the three baskets. "Thank you...!" Apple Bloom then grabbed one of the three baskets and carried the apples into the barn. "Thank you kindly. If my brother were here, he'd have that apple down in on buck." Applejack walked up to Sparx and Ashes, grabbing the nearby towel from the fence to wipe the sweat off her cheeks. "You got a brother too? What's he like? Where is he?" Ashes looked around the barn and couldn't find any other ponies nearby. "Big Mac and Granny Smith left for Appleloosa to visit some relatives. They won't be back for a little while. I'd like to introduce you to them." Applejack then grabbed the remaining two baskets of apples and took them inside the barn. "Hey Sparx...." "What?" "Do you think that Twilight-pony can help us? With our memory, I mean?" Ashes was concerned. "Meh...I don't care, really. Might as well make new ones. Like, I wanna remember all the times the ponies cheered for my greatness. I'm gonna be so awesome, no pony will forget me." Sparx was brimming with confidence. "Well, I'm gonna stand on the sun! My dream is MORE awesome!" Ashes began burning with confidence. "Says you...! You know I'm stronger and cooler than you! You got nothing on me!" Sparx began to radiate in electricity. "No, SAYS YOU!!!" The two began to fight each other over stupid reasons like always. Applejack and Apple Bloom watched as the brothers fought. They could see fire and lightning fly from their fight. Applejack walked over to them, "Alright, that's enough!" She then pulled out a long rope and lassoed the brothers and stopped their fighting. "What the-?! What's that for?!" "Yeah, what's with the rope?!" Ashes and Sparx struggled to break free of the rope. "You two need to stop that fightin'! There will be no fightin' on this farm!" Applejack kept the two tied up to keep them from fighting. Sparx and Ashes groaned out of disgust. "Sparx, we heard that you wanted to be awesome. What do you mean by that?" Applejack loosened the rope and freed Sparx and Ashes. "Uh...well, I just want to be awesome at stuff! I can do anything I set my mind to! Like uh...like this!" Sparx then pointed his horn at one of the apple trees and yanked all of the apples off and dropped them on the ground. "See?! No problem!" Sparx was proud of his accomplishment. Applejack, not so much. "Sparx, the apples are all not ripe yet. They haven't even grown to full size yet. You just ruined a batch of perfectly good apples that weren't even ready yet...!" Applejack was quite upset. The apples were all only have the size needed to be harvested. Sparx then felt broken for his failure. Suddenly, the apple tree caught on fire without warning. "What the hay?! The tree is on fire...!" Apple Bloom panicked at the abrupt start of the fire. "Oops...I think my magic might have caused that by mistake." Sparx then felt guilty for his mistake. "Hang on, I got it." Ashes then walked over to the apple tree and the small, still-developing flames began flowing onto Ashes' body and were then absorbed, thus saving the tree. The damage to the tree was very minor. "WOW...! How did you do that?!" Apple Bloom was amazed by Ashes' ability. "Oh...uh....I have no idea. Guess I was always able to do that." Ashes felt that it was just natural. Sparx was angry and began heading back to town. "Hey bro, where ya going?!" "Anywhere but here!" Sparx' body then turned electrical and he made a great jump back to Ponyville. He looked like a bolt of lightning with thunder crackling. Applejack and Apple Bloom were both quite shocked. "BRO, WAIT...!!!" Ashes gave chase back to Ponyville, leaving the apple farm. "Sis, don't you think that was...a little harsh? I mean, Sparx was just helping." Apple Bloom then started gathering the un-ripened apples up in a pile. "Well...maybe. But if he wants to be awesome at stuff, he better think before he leaps." Applejack joined Apple Bloom in gathering the un-ripened apples. Back in Ponyville, Sparx arrived at the park in his lighting fast jump. He was still upset about his failure. and sat against one of the trees. All the ponies were surprised by his sudden arrival, so they kept their distance. "SPARKY...!" Pinkie Pie came running towards Sparx in excitement. She then noticed Sparx with an angry look on his face. "Sparky...? What's wrong? Did something happen?" "That apple-pony with the hat is such a bi-uh...jerk! I just wanted to help her out and be awesome, but she said I ruined her apple tree! And then her tree caught on fire by accident, and then Ashes saved the tree and showed me up! This is the worst!" Sparx was very angry. Electrical energy began radiating from his anger. The ponies then began backing further away from the area out of fear. "I'm sure Applejack understands. She works really, really hard on that apple orchard and it's her family's pride and joy! Like my family's rock farm! Oh that's right, Twilight wants to see all of you! She said it was super important! We gotta go now!" Pinkie pulled Sparx by his hood towards the castle. Sparx sighed, "Fine...." "WAIT FOR ME...!" Ashes was hot on their trail. The three then made their way to Twilight castle. They entered the castle, then into the library to see Gust and Chilly already waiting for them. "Hey guys...!" "Took your time, huh...?" They were sitting in two desks out of four that were positioned in a row with a blackboard in front of them. "What's going on here? What's with the tables...?" They then see Twilight walking inside the library dressed up in teacher's attire, complete with reading glasses, a ruler, an eraser, a pen and pencil, and lots of paper. Spike followed carrying a few books and Starlight pushed a replica pony-skeleton into the room. "Welcome class. I will be your teacher and I will be in charge of your schooling." Twilight then magically pulled her table in front of the blackboard and placed her supplies down. Spike then placed the books down on the table and gave a sigh of relief. The books looked quite heavy. "Thank you, Spike. There's a ruby in the kitchen for you." Twilight grabbed one of the books and opened it up. Spike's mouth watered and quickly dashed to the kitchen. "Schooling...? What the heck is that?" Sparx was confused. "Miss Twilight is going to teach us about Equestria and stuff!" Gust was excited. "Teach us...? Like how to get to the sun?!" Ashes quickly became hopeful and sat in one of the desks. Twilight cleared her throat, "Pinkie has told me that you four are in need of an education. So I am here to provide." Twilight became very serious at the chance to teach. "Could be fun...." "I'm ready, teacher!" "YEAH!" Chilly, Gust, and Ashes were all in agreement. Except for Sparx because he had already left without any of them noticing. "That was fast.... Sorry about that." Chilly wasn't at all surprised. Twilight sighed, "It's alright. I knew this would happen. That's why I have my secret weapon. Pinkie, if you would?" "Okie Dokie Lokie!" Pinkie took off running to find Sparx. "Good luck, Pinkie!" Starlight waved as Pinkie went out. "Uh...are you sure that's a good idea? Sparx is not gonna be nice, you know." Gust was quite worried about Pinkie's safety. As well other innocent ponies. "Chill out, Gust. Sparx may be crazy, but he hurt anypony. Let's start this lesson, shall we?" Chilly turned his attention to Twilight. "Indeed. And I'm sure Pinkie will be just fine. Trust me." Twilight then turned to the blackboard and began her lesson. Meanwhile, Sparx was just out walking around in Ponyville. "Screw that schooling crap. That sounds super boring and I am too cool for tha-AGH!!!" Sparx was then tripped over by the Cutie Mark Crusaders and landed on his face. "Hey Pinkie, we caught him!" Scootaloo and her friends held on tight to Sparx's legs. "Great job, girls! Now we can take him back to Twilight's lesson!" Pinkie arrived soon after. "THAT HURT, YOU BRATS!!!" Sparx quickly stood back up on his hooves and yanked the Crusaders off his legs with his magic. His nose bled slightly from the fall. The Crusaders panicked as they were suspended in midair. "Sparky, stop it! You're not being nice!" Pinkie gave Sparx a pouty face in anger. "I DO WHAT I WANT!!!" Sparx then dropped the Crusaders and disappeared in a flash of light. "Sorry Pinkie, we lost him...." Sweetie Bell and her friends got back on their hooves un-harmed. "No problem, girls. I can take it from here!" Pinkie took off running without the Crusaders. Sparx then appeared out of nowhere in Sweet Apple Acres. "Teleporting is an awesome spell. Agh...my nose! I'll get those brats for this!" Sparx's nose was still bleeding from earlier. "Here you go!" Sparx was then given a handkerchief at random. "Thanks pink po-" Sparx then realized that Pinkie had found him. "How did you...?" "Pinkie Sense. My left eyelid twitched. That meant something was going to happen in Applejack's farm." Sparx did not believe a word Pinkie said. "I'm out!" Sparx then disappeared again. He found himself on the roof of Sugar Cube Corner. "Heh...that crazy pony will never find me here. It would be the very last place she'll look." Sparx chuckled, feeling like he out-smarted Pinkie Pie. "Actually, this was the second place I would look." Pinkie stood right next to Sparx from a ladder. "WHAT THE-?! HOW?!" Sparx couldn't believe Pinkie found him so easily and jumped out of shock. "My front-right hoof twitched. That meant I was supposed to be at Sugar Cube Corner." Pinkie then got on the roof and approached Sparx. "GIVE ME A BREAK!!!" Sparx then disappeared again and this time he found himself at the park and quickly hid in a bush. "I swear, if that crazy mare shows up again, I'm gonna-" Pinkie suddenly poked her head through the leaves, "Here's Pinkie...!" Sparx then screamed in terror, turned into lightning and then jumped into the clouds. He bounced around the clouds and hid himself in the thick cloud cover. Rainbow Dash just so happened to be sleeping on one of the clouds when Sparx jumped into it. "What the-?! Who did that?!" Rainbow Dash jumped into the air from the sudden zap. "Shut up...! I'm trying to hide!" Sparx poked his head out of the cloud in caution. "How in Equestria are you doing that?! You're not even a Pegasus...!" "I control lightning! Now go away! I'm hiding from that pink pony!" Sparx then hid back inside the cloud. "Hi Sparky...! Hi Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie just so happen to arrive in what appeared to be flying machine made of candy canes. "WHAT ARE YOU???!!!" Sparx then took off in terror. Pinkie followed. "He's not gonna win this one...." Rainbow Dash knew exactly how Sparx felt. He kept trying to hide from Pinkie over and over again, but Pinkie kept finding him every single time. Despite all this happening, the citizens of Ponyville were used to this. Several failed attempt later, Sparx finally stopped and found himself back in the park again. He was exhausted and nearly spent on magic. Pinkie stood right behind him. "Alright, that is it...! I didn't want to do this, but I have had enough of this! I'm getting you off my flank now!" Sparx turned towards Pinkie as his horn began sparkling with whatever magic he had left. Pinkie just stood there without moving with a smile on her face. Sparx then unleashed his magic on Pinkie, but it came out as nothing but a puff of smoke. "Oh crap...." Sparx then collapsed. He had nothing left to fight or run. "Ugh...I give up. You win.... Have mercy...!" "Time for school...!" Pinkie then placed Sparx over her shoulders and went inside Twilight's castle. They arrived in the library only to see Twilight exhausted. "Welcome back, you two. Good job bringing Sparx back." Starlight had a platter of freshly brewed coffee ready for Twilight. "How's school going...?" Pinkie placed Sparx at his seat in front of the blackboard. "Chilly is asleep, Ashes doesn't understand the lesson, and Gust is the only one actually taking this seriously." Twilight took a gulp of her coffee to perk herself back up. The lesson was indeed what Twilight described. "ZZZZ...." "I don't get it...." "What's next?! What's next?!" 'Well, at least got Sparx ba-" Starlight and the girls then noticed hat Sparx was sleeping from exhaustion. "I guess the lesson is over then?" They all agreed with Pinkie since it was starting to get late. A lot has happened in one day and this would be a visit the Spellbind Brothers would not forget.