“Alright, class,” Mrs. Wordsearch called out, “follow the leader!” With that, she turned and began to lead her menagerie of students toward the park. “We’re going to be taking a different route today. There’s construction work being done, so we’ll need to go around. It will only take a little longer to get to the park.” As she said this, many students started to express their negative opinion of a longer walk. She turned her head back to us with a stern glare, “And I don’t want to hear ANY complaining.” She turned her attention back to our current route.
As per usual with walks like this, the cluster of students started out like a fairly mixed bag of trail mix. Fillies would talk with each other about topics I didn’t understand, nor cared too at that age, and the few colts that were there would chat and bump each other, the closest they could get to rough housing without getting into trouble. I stood out to the side of the non-uniform line, not really wanting to be near any of them. I wanted to avoid getting bullied as much as possible.
Only a few minutes later did the group of ponies begin to shift, with colts and fillies getting closer to their usual friends, causing the chain of children to lengthen out as they stood side-by-side in twos or threes, excluding ponies like me that wanted to walk by themselves. It took even less time for the line to diverge even more, with the slower groups of ponies congregating further back and others catching up with our teacher. That left both the few groups in the middle and ponies that didn’t group together. Not much happened early on, from what I remember. We passed some houses, took a few twists and turns toward our destination, ponies chatting about pretty much anything. It was after a detour the class took to avoid the construction work that my gut felt like it was churning and twisting into a knot as I heard some familiar voices.
"Ugh, were getting too close to the blank flank." That posh voice belonged to a filly named Crystal Chance. Was it posh? It might've just been snooty. Getting off track. She was a Unicorn and had a pearl-colored coat, I forget what her mane was, either white or silver. She was followed by two other fillies, a grey Pegasus and a blue Unicorn. I think their Cutie Marks were a rhombus for Crystal, a trio of circles for the blue Unicorn, and... I don't think I ever saw the Pegasus' Cutie Mark, she had longer wings than other Pegasi her age. Crystal continued to speak. "Watch out girls, you might lose your Cutie Marks if you're too close."
"Even if he did get one, it'd probably be in farming like the rest of the Earth ponies." The blue Unicorn, let's just call her Circles for now, spat in my direction. And I mean spat, like, as in she said it harshly. You know what I mean. Oddly enough, the Pegasus just kept quiet. Usually she would jump in with the insults, but I didn't stay long enough to find out this time. I picked up my pace, leaving the middle of the line so I could catch up with Mrs. Wordsearch.
"Oh, hello Scar," She looked down to me with a soft smile. "You look down, are you alright?"
"I'm fine," I lied, "I brought the book, The Mare in the Moon, it's in my bag. I-i also have the bits for the late fee." I should also note that I was pretty shy when I was younger, and as you can imagine, this caused a bit of difficulty. I also had some difficulty talking to Baldwin earlier that day.
"That's wonderful, Scar, but I believe it would be better to talk about the book during library time."
"Yes, ma'am." The rest of the walk was mostly silent on my part. Mrs. Wordsearch went over a few more details, the other students talked, more or less the same fair from earlier.
We made it to the park and my nose was itching something fierce. Like, that feeling you get when you need to sneeze but it won't happen. Yeah, like that, I remember it very (un)fondly because it was probably the most irritating thing I had felt. This wasn't the type of park that had swings and slides and stuff, it was more like a landmark than anything. There were a multitude of trees around the park, I would probably only be able to discern between a few, however. Guess that's what the lesson is for.
"Ok, class. We'll split in just a few, but I need to inform you all that we can't cover the whole park." This was met with a few "aww"s as we settled around her. "Now, now, don't act like that. We still have a good portion to examine." She levitated a map to each and everyone of us, an official map of the area, which had a red square drawn with a marker highlighting the area we were allowed to be in. "You're going to pick up any leaves you find and make a rough sketch in your journals that should look similar to it. By the sketch, you should write down the name of the tree it came from, what color the leaf was, how long it was, how wide it is, and what felt like against the frog of your hoof. In that order. You should be able to find the name of the tree three pages back when we were studying vocabulary. You should also circle down on your map where you found the leaf. I want all of you to have, at least, three different types of tree leaf sketched and written down in your journal by the time we leave the park, but feel free to sketch down more leaves if you're having fun! Scar, you are really scratching your nose, are you alright?" After her explanation, she almost every filly and colt started looking my way as I was rubbing away at my snout with a fetlock.
"U-um... Yes, I'm fine..."
"Eugh!" Wailed Crystal, "You better not have a cold, because if you get me sick-"
"I-i don't have a cold! M-my nose j-just really itches!"
"Hmph! That's how it always starts! First is an itch, then it turns to sneezing and coughing, immediately followed by an epidemic!"
"Crystal." Mrs. Wordsearch said sternly, making Crystal quiet down. "Class, you may go and examine the trees now. If you find a leaf or tree you don't know, come get me." She ended with a smile. The class dispersed and she walked toward me. "Scar, are you sure you aren't under the weather? It wouldn't do for a sick colt to be outside."
"I'm fine... My nose is just itchy..." She put a hoof on my shoulder.
"Is it stuffy, it's not difficult to inhale, is it?"
"No... Ok, maybe it's a little stuffy."
"Does it feel like you need to sneeze-"
"Yes! I-i mean, yes, ma'am."
"Heheh," she chuckled as she booped me. "It could just be the pollen that's goofing with your snoot. If it gets any worse, please tell me." I nodded.
"Yes, ma'am."
"Ok, now run along and sketch some leaves, we only have a little over forty minutes left." I nodded again.
"Ok." After she had Pat my shoulder, I went on my merry way toward a tree I instantly knew. It was a cotton wood tree, the leaf was three inches long, two inches wide, dark green on the front and pale on the back, the back felt kinda fuzzy while the front felt like that pleather stuff my sister would wear.
Shk, shk.
My ears twitched when I heard something getting rustled. After a quick look around, I found the dark-blue tail of a pony slightly waving between a pair of bushes. I walked around to see light-blue colt with dark-blue mane. His mane was spiky like mine, though his stood out more to the sides. He had orange eyes. He was examining a weird blue branch with purple leaves and some odd looking red and yellow flower on the end. I continued to rub my snout.
"Hey, whazzat?" I so eloquently asked.
"I have... No idea... But I don't care. I'm still drawing it." He said. His voice was a little rough, almost like he had strained it through the night.
"Cool. Wait, should we draw the purple leaves or the red ones? Or the yellow ones?"
"The red and yellow ones are flower petals," he pointed at the flower, "you can see the stamen in the center."
"Huh." We both drew a leaf, two inches long, half an inch in width, purple, a bit coarse. After writing down how it felt, I heard Mrs. Wordsearch walk by us. "Hold on for a sec, I'm gonna get the teacher."
"Yeah, we do need to know what the name is, don't we?" He responded. After calling for her and saying we needed help, she followed me past the bushes to the branch.
"Oh my." She adjusted her glasses. "I think, I think you boys just found the branch of a Dragon Sneeze tree."
"Dragon what tree?" We asked.
"A Dragon Sneeze tree, they're a tree with a special magic to them. They make dragons sneeze, basically. It's self explanatory, really."
"What let's them make dragons sneeze?" The colt asked.
"I wish I could tell you. I really don't know what kind of magic allows them to turn such beasts into a sniffle ridden mess."
"So... Can we keep this written down in our journals?" I asked.
"Oh, of course you can. This is a wonderful find, you two." She gave us a mirthful smile.
"Actually, he found it," I pointed to the blue colt," I just happened to find him.
"Well, either way, this is really wonderful. Ah ha, I know what to do with this." A moka colored glow surrounded a few leaves and were picked off and placed in a plastic baggy to be stored away in her saddle bags. "Strange that this branch would be so far away from the tree." She looked left and right. "I can't even see a Dragon Sneeze tree anywhere, where did this branch come from?" She walked off, I think she was lost in thought. I was about to talk to the colt when I turned to him, but he was already walking off in the direction opposite of our teacher. After seeing that he was an Earth pony and didn't have a Cutie Mark, I decided I would probably talk to him later and went to an oak tree.
Eventually, the time came for us to head back to the school and my snout was finally feeling like it should, clear and itch-free. Due to Mrs. Wordsearch combining the first and second lesson times into one for today, that meant the next lesson time was library time. I am so glad they call them "periods" instead of "times" now. The halls of the school were a little bland now that I look back on them. They were lit by candles since they had almost no windows for some reason, the ceilings were boring, and the floor was just an eyesore. Who ever designed the floor must've been under the influence of something because the pattern on the floor was just weird, multicolored, reflective, abstract shapes on an off-white background. You might be thinking I have something against the floor, and you'd be right, I do.
I remember the library being close to the furnace room, just across the hall from it. Obviously, the library had bookshelves and tables. To the left and right of the main desk, bookshelves were lined against the walls, leaving room for tables to be placed in the open space. The checkout desk sat across the way from the door, windows letting in the sunlight from behind. The children walked around, some returning their checked-out books to get new ones, while others that hadn't gotten a book last time trotted to the shelves to get one now. I was one of the former, but the last in line. I took out The Mare in the Moon along with the bits, and hoofed them to Mrs. Wordsearch, whom had taken her place behind the desk. She took out a slip of paper, upon which were written details about the books physical condition.
"One The Mare in the Moon," she verbally listed off, "no water damage on either cover, no pencil or ink on either cover," she flipped the pages of the book in rapid succession, "no water damage nor pencil or ink on the pages, no folds or creases, ..." She turned her attention to me. "I see you've been using sticky notes as bookmarks again?"
"Y-Yes," I said, afraid the sticky notes may have left some residue on the pages. "W-why do you ask?" She turned the closed book toward me with her magic, back cover first. Opening it revealed the inside of the back cover was bathed in sticky notes. "Oh, so that's where they went."
"Fourteen sticky notes, all inside the back cover. You read this book fourteen times in the last five days?"
"... Y-Yes..." I looked down to my hooves.
"Hehe, Scar, don't look so ashamed." She used her magic to turn my face to her. "That just shows how much you love reading, either that or how much you love this book, and that isn't something to be ashamed about.
"I know..." Despite really wanting to look away, I continued to give her my full attention.
"Now, this book is three days late, excluding the weekend, and you've already payed the late fee. Why don't you go and get another book while I keep this here, ok?"
"Actually, I-I was wondering if I c-could check that out again."
"I'm sorry, Scar, but the The Mare in the Moon won't be able to be checked out." I was about to interrupt when she held up a hoof, silencing me before I even spoke. "This book is going to be picked up after school by a member of the Royal Guard today. Princess Celestia's personal student has requested this book, and as fate just so happens to be, this is the only copy in Canterlot."
"The only copy?"
"Heh, I don't know either. You'd think The Mare in the Moon would have hundreds of copies within Canterlot. You ask me, I think it's a conspiracy." She finished the explanation, ending the last bit with a wink, signifying she was joking. "I'm sure you'll find another book like this one, in fact, here." In her dark-purple golw, she pulled a green book from under the desk, "This is a copy of West Equestria Legends. I'm more than positive you'll enjoy it." After writing my name on a piece of paper and sliding it into a pocket inside the front cover of the book, she floated it over to me. "I hope you have a fun read."
"Ok, I will." I nodded as I took the book between my hoof and chest. "Thank you." She smiled as I walked to a group of tables. That's when I saw him again, the blue colt. He was sitting with an open comic in his hooves. The title was covered, but I could immediately tell what he was reading. "Hey, you like Dragoon?"
"Yes I like comics, now go..." He trailed off before looking to me, disbelief in his eyes. He had been asked if he liked comics before, that was obvious, but this looked to be the first time anyone had asked seriously. "You know Dragoon?"
"Yeah, that's my favorite comic!" In that moment, I felt excitement raise within me as I found somepony who liked the same comic I did. I still kept a quiet tone, I was in a library after all. "My favorite arc so far is the Abyssal Beast arc!" I had sat down beside him at this point.
"Abyssal Beast arc?"
"You're on chapter twenty-three, right? Odd-Eyes and Pendulums?" He took a quick look at the front cover.
"Yeah!" I could here his excitement, despite his quiet tone. Library equals quiet.
"The arc I'm talking about doesn't start for another few chapters." I gasped as a thought ran through my head. "I have every chapter of Dragoon so far, wanna come to my house after school and read them?"
"Would I!? That sounds like a lotta fun!" He took my hoof and shook it. "I'm Blur, Blur Navy. I'm bad with names, so sorry if I forgot yours. What's your name?"
"I'm Scar Cross, and don't worry, I'm also bad with names." After that, we read his copy of chapter twenty-three and talked about other Dragoon stuff until the bell rang, telling our class that it was time to pack up and head to our room.