//------------------------------// // School // Story: My Family // by Woody Hooves //------------------------------// The front door of the classroom opened as an old looking mare walked in. She walked over to the desk and looked at the students in front of her. She had a gray coat with long wavy dark red mane. She always wore a shirt since she liked keeping herself tidy and neat. Her cutiemark was a shape of a pencil that represented her talent in teaching writing. She was kind, and many ponies liked her for it. Winter liked Ms. Pencil, but she didn't like writing classes. She didn't really like writing, because she wasn't very confident in it. She often got help from her classmate, Zeen. Whenever she felt like she couldn't do anything, Zeen offered his help for her. Zeen had gray coat with a short black and red mane. He was still learning to use magic, so he wasn't very experienced with it yet. He learns magic by reading a book that's called 'Basics of Magic' whenever it's break time in school, always trying his best to master basic spells like levitation or teleportation. He always wanted to help others when they had a hard time doing something. But even he had hard times in his life. His parents had passed away from illness, and now lives by himself in a cheap house that's a little far from school. The shock of his parents death brought depression and it made him feel like he had no one to look up to for help. Except for his friend, Winter Star. Zeen played games on his computer or draw venting pictures to keep himself from being upset, but talking to Winter helped him the most. Winter was the only one who knew about his depression, and he liked to keep it that way. He didn't want any attention. He knew a bit about programming, so he made computer games and sold them online to earn bits to support himself. He was even in a group called 'The Gamerz', a group of programmers and animators who created games and released them into the public. Most of Zeen's income came from there, and he was happy to be in a group like that. Winter. sometimes tried to help him by giving him some money, but Zeen often refused saying that he didn't need it. He was glad to have a friend like her. Ms. Pencil opened up her file and brought out a stack of paper sheets. She counted them to match the number of the students and told them. "Alright, we're going to do poem writing today. Our topic will be about flowers, so I want you to try your best." She said as she gave out a paper sheet to each student in the room. When Winter received the blank piece of paper on her desk and stared at it for a few seconds. Her mind became blank, just like what her paper was showing. She started to feel a little insecure. What if she failed? What if she disappoint Ms. Pencil? What if the other ponies look at her in a bad way? Her thoughts stopped when she looked up at the gray pony two desks in front of her. She leaned her head to the side a little to get a better view, and saw Zeen writing on his paper using his mouth instead of his horn. He looked up in thought for a few seconds, then looked down as he continued writing. He seemed to be taking time in his poem, unlike her. She wished he was right next to her. She'd be able to get help from him, plus he'd be her desk partner! "Flowers.." Winter's current desk partner, White Cloud, mumbled in deep thought as she stared at her paper on her desk. White was a quiet pony, but she was one of the smart students in the whole school. She had white coat with a long sapphire blue mane that made her look pretty with her white pegasus wings. Her cutie mark was a shape of a cloud, which represented her talent in making clouds into different kinds of shapes. "I'm not really fond of flowers.." She mumbled again, and kept on thinking. Winter looked at some of the other ponies, and noticed that they were having a hard time writing the poem too. That made her feel a little better. At least she wasn't the only one. "Any idea on what to write?" She asked the white pony, but got a groan and a shake of her head. "No, but I'm thinking." She then started to write on her paper quickly. Winter felt like she was just bothering her and stayed quiet, feeling bad for not being able to write a simple poem while the other ponies did their work. The bell rang, indicating that the first class ended. "Alright, write the poem until tomorrow. That'll be your homework, and I'll see you tomorrow." Ms. Pencil went out through the front door as the students did what they wanted to do for break time. Some got off their chairs and went to their friend's classroom, some got their notebooks out to draw on them. Some even got their phones out and called their friends outside of school. Winter didn't really want to get out of her seat, so she got her drawing notebook out and just started drawing simple sketches on it. She thought she wasn't very good at drawing, but with the teachers around her complimenting her art she felt like she really was good at it. After a few minutes of sketching random things, she felt a hoof tap on her shoulder. When she turned around to see who it was, Zeen was smiling at her. "That's a nice drawing!" He said. Zeen wished he drew well too. He did draw sometimes on at home when he was bored, but he wasn't very confident in doing so. "Oh, thanks Zeeny." The white pegasus said, returning the smile. "How was writing? Was it ok for you?" He asked in a slightly worried tone. Winter just looked back at her notebook with a sigh, shaking her head. "Aww.. Don't worry. You're still learning. I know you'll be able to write a great poem." Zeen tried to cheer his friend up, which seemed to work when she let out a giggle. "I'll try." "I'll help you if you want. Hey, maybe we could write together!" Winter's ears perked up. It would be nice if Zeen helped her write the poem. Plus, Zeen was her favorite friend to be with. "That would be nice!" She looked at him and smiled happily, until she got a sudden boop on the muzzle by him. "Boop!" Zeen said playfully, as he smiled back. Winter felt her cheeks blush a bit. She looked away from him to hide her blushing cheeks, thinking that it would be embarrassing if he noticed. Just as she was about to hold her pencil to continue drawing, the school bell rang and all the ponies went to their seats. Winter watched Zeen go back to his seat, and felt very glad to have a friend like him in school. A few hours later as classes started and finished, Winter got up from her seat to walk over to the cafeteria for lunch. Zeen followed after to eat with her, as he trotted over to her side. Winter looked at him with a smile as she took her time to walk to the cafeteria. When they reached the large room, there were already many ponies filling up all the seats. Winter and Zeen quickly got in line to grab a tray as they went through the counter where they give food. When they received their food on their tray, they looked around to look for a seat. There was a table near a window in the corner of the cafeteria, so the two ponies decided to sit there. As they were eating, Zeen asked. "So, are you gonna keep drawing till next class starts?" She nodded as she swallowed her food in her mouth. "Yeah. I was trying to draw some ponies" Zeen began to be interested. "Who?" "Well, my bro, Onyx, and.." She trailed off, as she felt her cheeks slowly turned pink. "More ponies." Zeen just chuckled at her. 'She's so cute when she smiles.' He thought to himself. Zeen really liked being with Winter, especially when it was lunch time. He felt like he wasn't alone when he was around her. He liked her beautiful light blue mane waving back and forth whenever she walked, her deep light blue eyes, and her cute giggles that fluttered his heart, and most importantly her kind and caring heart. Zeen smiled as he thought about it, and felt really glad that he met her. He then noticed that Winter was giggling. "What?" He asked in confusion. "You're cute when you blush, Zeeny." It was then when Zeen realized that his cheeks were pink.