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// When my Dad met a bad teacher. 
// Story: The misadventures of Light Heart 
// by Light Heart101 
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Alright, I think I need to be the one who explains this story about my son, but I should introduce myself first. My name is Golden Blade. I used to be a security guard before I moved my family to Ponyville. My wife is Gentle Heart. She's short, but is still the love of my life. Now I care about all of my kids, but the way we were raising them changed when Light started struggling with rather simple magic. Now at first I thought he was just a slow learner, but when he started having problems communicating we decided to take him to a psychiatrist. He ended up telling us that Light had Asperger Syndrome. It changed a lot of the ways how I understood him. I didn't like having to see him struggle with stuff which I couldn't understand.

At the time we lived in a rather big city. It was after Short Fuse was born, but before Ruby was. We lived in a nice house at the time, but that was before my accident. I ended up getting a part of my neck broken in an accident. It ruined my security career. We were trying to live like most other families and sent our kids to a public school. It worked for Book Knight, but it had bad results for Light. Light has probably told you that he flunked magic kindergarten. He wasn't lying.

One night Gentle ended up confronting me. She looked upset when she handed me a paper from the school. "It's Light Heart again. He still can't do a levitation spell and the other kids are giving him a hard time about it. If that wasn't bad enough he tried to run away from school again."

I was upset to hear that. I tried to help him, but I couldn't understand what he was going through. It seemed like the public school was hurting him more then it was helping him. I nearly got into a few arguments with the parents because their kids kept picking on him. The fact that some parents don't teach their kids what right and wrong are ticks me off. I started teaching my kids when they were two.

I placed the letter aside and sat down, trying to think about how to help him. "This is the last straw. I've been talking to his principal and all I could find out is that the teachers and the other students expect him to learn like everypony else. I just think he needs to be in a different school. He needs somepony who can talk to him one on one instead of just hoping everybody is learning at the same pace."

Gentle sighed. "I know you mean well, but I'm not sure what schools would take him. We were lucky that this school accepted him. What you are suggesting does sound expensive."

I didn't think about that. Princess Celestia didn't have a lot of schools for the mentally handicapped, and a lot of them costed a hoof and a wing at that time. I knew that a few schools offer some good scholarships, but those mostly wanted smart students.

Finally one idea came to mind. "Why don't we try the one in Canterlot?"

Gentle looked confused. "I don't think we can afford anything in Canterlot."

I started going through a few papers in my desk. "There's one school we can afford. You know that my brother was in the royal guard. He ended up telling me that Celestia has a school for gifted youngsters. They might have the resources to help him learn in ways the other schools can't. From what he said Princess Celestia covers most of the costs."

Gentle looked rather surprised by my idea. "Honey, it sounds like a nice idea, but they expect some form of magical talent. I don't think Light would qualify."

That was the one thing I didn't think about. As I was trying to think of something else I heard Light Heart playing in the other room. We decided to see what he was doing. Now I know a lot of you have seen kids play with stuffed animals before, but not like this. His toy dog came to life. They were talking and playing with each other. I don't think any of us had seen anything like that.

I gave my wife a little grin. "I believe he's gifted, that's all that matters."

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The plan was simple. I took Light to Canterlot while Gentle took care of the others. Light liked the idea of going on an adventure. Let's face it, who wouldn't want to meet the princess? He did draw a bit off attention while he was playing with the now living stuffed animal that he was playing with earlier. His name apparently was Wolfy. He was a dog who wore a superhero costume. I never understood how he did the spell, but Book Knight had a theory that it was a part of Light's own personality that he somehow transferred to the toy that brought it to life. Book had a few other theories, but we never really found out what caused it to come to life.

Now I had only been to Canterlot a few times, and that was when my brother was on the royal guard. I never did felt like I fit in there. I guess it was because of my adopted family. I used to live on the Sterling farm after my dad left my family. My real mom ended up letting me head there in my free time. They taught me so many things about responsibility and caring about family. They never officially adopted me, but I consider them family. Spending time on a farm made wealthy ponies seem more unrelatable, and sometime annoying.

The school seemed rather fancy. I didn't like the idea of not being able to spend as much time with Light as I could, but it seemed like it would be the best way to help him. Now I don't remember who the other two ponies that were in charge of the evaluation were, but I remember one of them to this day. Neighsay. I knew who he was because of his name tag. How a stallion like him became in charge of a school system I'll never know, but I guess I'll explain what happened.

Light had Wolfy in his saddlebag. My plan was to have Light it to them and see what would happen. When I was asked to introduce him I was confident, but I never could predict what would happen. All I got out was his name before things went wrong.

Before anypony else asked what he could do Neighsay opened his large mouth. "That was all I needed to hear. You both can leave now."

I was confused by what he said. "But my son hasn't shown you what he can do yet. "

Neighsay sighed as he leaned forward. "Listen, I'm going to be blunt with you. From what your file said your son has Asperger Syndrome. He doesn't learn like other kids. We are looking for ponies with magical talent, not a lack of it. We don't have the time to deal with somepony who can't understand the simple basics of magic. It is my opinion that your son is unable to attend here and he will never achieve any strong forms of magic, if he'll even learn the basics. He's just a waste of time."

I was shocked by what he said. He took my son and reduced him to nothing. When I turned to Light he had already ran out the door. I heard a couple of guards run after him.

Neighsay just sighed. "Like I said, a waste of time."

Now if you could describe Light as protective, I'm overprotective. I was so angry at that guy for trying to crush my son. I walked right up to him with so much anger surging through my veins that a changling from Griffonstone could feel it. If it wasn't for the fact that I did have a wife and family to go home to I would have torn him apart. He looked like he was going to wet himself when I got to his face. I didn't care. 

I was right below the tone of yelling at him as I unloaded my anger on him. "Now you listen here you arrogant fool! I don't know why the princess thought it was a good idea to hire you, but you have no clue what you passed on. My son is amazing! He's going to do so many good things and he won't need you to help him. I never want to see you anywhere close to my son again. If you try to hurt him again I'll make sure you'll see more stars then Nightmare Moon. I'll help your future avoidance of my family by not enrolling him in a school that has foolish ponies like you in it. One day, you will see the great pony he will become. Goodbye Neighsay."

I stormed out of the room. I don't think that I would have cared if Princess Celestia tried calling us back, I ended up losing all faith in the public school system. I started digging through the school for Light. I found a few guards at a closet door who looked worried. My guess is that they never had to deal with a crying child before.

One of them saw me and waved to me. "Hey, your kid is in here. Maybe you should take care of this. We'll wait outside."

I thanked them as I walked in. Light was huddled in a corner. I sat down next to him and rapped my hoof around him. 

He could barely speak over his tears. "What's wrong with me? Why am I so dumb?"

"There's nothing wrong with you. You are amazing. I know things are hard for you right now, but you are going to be amazing. You just don't see what I see."

Light hugged me as he kept crying. I decided to take him home. I learned on the train that Wolfy was now back to a normal stuffed animal. I think that event had a lasting effect on Light. I haven't seen him bring one of his toys to life since. I do love all of my kids equally, but I know that Light is more fragile than the others. I hold confidence that they all will become great ponies.

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When we got home I ended up spending an hour ranting to Gentle about what happened. I was still angry over the whole school situation. I have to thank my wife for her patience. It's impossible to see my life without her. 

She was wise to let me finish venting before speaking. "I'm sorry that he treated you and like that way. Frankly I think I would have yelled at him as well if I was in your hooves."

I soon realized how angry she was. She rarely raises her voice, and if she yells you had better run for the hills. 

I still felt like I was holding the whole force of my emotions back. "Frankly if Light wasn't there I might have taught that unicorn how to fly by tossing him out of the window. I hate that pony!"

Gentle placed a hoof on my shoulder to try to calm me down. "I understand why you're mad, and I'm glad you didn't get yourself arrested. This does leave us with how do we help Light."

I groaned as that event kept playing through my head. "Frankly I'm losing trust in the school system. If those are the types of ponies who run the classes, how can I trust them to help any of our kids when they need the extra help?"

Gentle started to pull out some school books. "Well, I do believe that there are good teachers out there, but I can't deny that there are teachers that won't give them the attention that they need. So I have one idea that I think I can try. I'll teach the kids."

I was a little taken back by that. "Is that even allowed?"

Gentle handed me some paperwork with plenty of details. "The princess does allow ponies to be home schooled if we can send reports to the education department. I know that I can teach them anything that the other schools can, and I'll be able to work with them one on one."

I had to think about it for a while. I knew my wife was a smart pony, and if anypony knew our kids better then me it was her. I had to ask her one more question. "Are you sure you want to dedicate yourself to this? I don't want you doing something you are not comfortable with."

She gave me a soft smile. "I want to do this. It'll allow us to get closer with our kids. I know how to help them. We wouldn't have to trust somepony else to teach our kids how to be good ponies. I know I can do this, but I want you to be okay with this."

I knew what the best option was at this point. I placed a hoof around her shoulder. "Honey, there's nobody I trust more than you. If you want to do this, then I will help you as much as I can."

From that day we home schooled our kids. It did mean that I had to work more hours, but I thought it was worth it. We were able to give them a good education. Book Knight worked hard to study magic so he could one day join the royal guard. Short Fuse is great at more practical knowledge, mainly in mechanical stuff. The girls all are still studying to graduate. As you know with Light he became a toy maker. We were able to help him understand some magic, but I know that he still struggles with learning new spells. I am glad that he found something he was comfortable with. The only thing a father wants from his son is to see him grow to be a wise stallion. Even though he's still pretty goofy, I'm proud of what he has become. This isn't the end of the story, I still have the best part.

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This was a few weeks ago. I was walking through town to meet my wife for lunch. I don't know what brought this fool back into town, but I stumbled upon Neighsay. From what I had learned he became a chancellor. What idiot put him in that position? Seriously! Now I never really forgave him. As much as my wife wants me to just forget this stuff, I never can. Now most ponies would avoid talking to somepony like that again, but I'm not most ponies. 

I walked right up to him. "Hello Neighsay. Remember me?"

The look on his face gave me the answer. His eyes widened as he groaned "Oh, it's you. You aren't going to try to fight me, right?"

I grinned a bit. "As sure as I am that I can beat the tar of you, I'm not going to. So, you are a chancellor now."

He gave me a rather snooty look. "Yes. I have my standards and that is how I got to where I am. I hope you understand."

I was about to challenge his morals, but I saw Light playing with the other kids and decided to show Neighsay what has happened with my son. "Hey, do you remember what you said to my son, the autistic kid?"

Neighsay sighed. "I thought you were past that."

I chuckled a bit. "I just thought you'd like to see him again. He's over there, the pony with the horn and the wings."

I enjoyed the look on his face as he stared in disbelief at Light. I gave a relaxed sigh as I walked right next to Neighsay. "Now I want you to remember him the next time you dare to call anypony worthless. I know he's still a little weird, but he's going to do great things. I told you that you'd see what a great pony he'd become. He has overcame what you have tried telling him. He's more valuable then you ever dreamed, and he didn't have to become an alicorn to do that. He did that by being my son. I hope you have a good day."

I walked away leaving Neighsay to himself. I always wanted to show him what he missed out on seeing, but I guess a part of me is glad that Light didn't have to be taught by that pony. I'm proud of my son. I know he's still struggling with who he's supposed to be, but I know he'll do great things for Equestria.