//------------------------------// // Day 12: Teacher For A Day // Story: Changeling Trust // by Nightmare Rift //------------------------------// Styx's POV: I wake up the next morning and prepare for my first lesson at Twilight’s school. Thankfully, it is easy to teach trust, so my first lesson is simply going to be a bunch of scenarios on trust. Holding something above some creature else’s head, creature knot, and an assignment for homework, etc. I refrain from wearing anything again since I don’t need to scare any creature off with my wardrobe choice. I grab a few things in my magic for my classroom, and gallop towards the school. Twilight told me to arrive early so she could show me my classroom. I enter the front doors to see Twilight patiently waiting for me, she gestures with her hoof for me to follow. Twilight is being eerily quiet, something I don’t enjoy. I think it might be that she isn’t quite used to seeing me in full Changeling form, along with being about two heads taller than her. We arrive at a room at the end of the hallway and enter. The room is decently sized, tall ceilings so I have no fear of running my head into the ceiling, painted midnight blue, and oak desks for the students. Twilight floats me my roster and says, “Here is your class lists, there are only two, and I would like to ask you if you would be willing to stand in the front entrance area with me today so I can introduce you to the students?” “Of course Twilight, I would be glad to. Although I must ask, why are so uneasy today? You seem tense and barely acknowledged me when I walked in this morning.” “Sorry, I guess I am nervous about how the students are going to take to a teacher that...that…” “Looks like this?” “Yes, I know the Changeling won’t have any issues, but it is the rest of my students. Mostly my pony students since, they have been taught all their life to hate the very image and idea that is you. I guess we should be going,” Twilight finishes as she turns to leave the room. I place all of my items in the room where I want them and follow her. We arrive at front, and I say, “Twilight, thanks for telling me. I hope that I can prove to you that I belong here and want to better your students.” “You already have. Oh, and I should tell you that the students don’t have school tomorrow. So you won’t have to come for the next three days.” “Cool, thanks Twilight,” I say as the students begin to come in, she points out most of them to me, mostly the ponies. However, she has a few come over, specifically the dragon named Smolder, Yona the yak, Gallus the griffon, Silverstream the hippogriff, Sandbar a normal colt, and lastly Mystel, the orphaned Changeling. No words are passed between us other than Twilight introducing us and us saying hi to one another. As we finish up, the warning bell rings, telling students and possibly teachers to get to their classrooms. I bid Twilight goodbye and head towards my classroom, no students are in my room during the first or third block of time due to having this as a new class. So, I contemplate how to organize my room to fit my needs for the day. Since I am going to have activities that involve being in a circle, I decide to shove the desks towards the front of the room, leaving enough in the back to have the students form a circle. The bell rings signally end of first block and then students have just enough time to get to their next class. Students start filing in, including all of the students that aren’t ponies. Mystel sits at the front which makes Gallus and Silverstream give her a confused look. I’m guessing because she sits in the back in all of her other classes. As much as the other creatures are confused they still sit by her. Safety in friendship and numbers. As the next bell rings signifying the start of class, I quiet the class down. “Quiet students. Now some of you may have met me already this morning, but for those of you that haven’t, my name is Styx. I will take any questions you have about the class and me.” Mystel’s hoof shoots straight up in the air, along with Yona’s, Gallus’s, and Sandbar’s. I point to Mystel first, “Are you a Changeling?” “Yes, I am a Changeling. I don’t look like you because, I never accepted the rule of Celestia and Luna after the War of Crystal. Yes, I was alive during the war.” I point to Gallus next. “How did you meet Headmare Twilight?” “I was looking to fit into pony society and I went looking for the princesses. I ended up wandering into Ponyville, and found Headmare Twilight’s friends and eventually Headmare Twilight herself.” I point to Yona next. “How did Changeling become a teacher here?” “Headmare Twilight asked me to teach here, since I knew so much about the Elements and how important trust was in friendship,” I say, pointing to a Sandbar next. “What exactly is this class about?” “This class is about trust. Not just about gaining it, but having it and ways that trust can be broken or mended. If we are all finished with questions we should begin. So students if you will all form a circle in the back of the room, we can get started.” The students make a circle in the back and we play creature knot, where all of the students grabbed the hoof or claw of another student, so all creatures were on their hind legs. I tell them that they must untangle themselves to form a circle again without letting each other go. I tell them to begin as Twilight walks in. “Hello Twilight, come to check on me or the students?” “Admittedly, I came to check on you. I see your still here and your students are doing a little trust exercise. So, I guess that means everything is going well?” “Professor Styx were done!” I hear a pony yell across the room. I look behind me to see that they have indeed done it and are all smiling and laughing merrily. I hold my hoof up for Twilight to hold her thoughts. I walk over to my students and set them on their next task, leader, or essentially the leader has to guide everyone else through an obstacle course, as every other creature will be blindfolded. Calling out directions each time. I set up the course out of books, metal hoops, desks, chairs, and some cones I snuck from a construction site around the back of the room. I hover a blindfold to all creatures but Silverstream. Entrusting her to lead her team through the course. I place glowing magical arrows on the floor to guide her in how the course works, and tell them that if any creature runs into an obstacle they have to start over. I let them begin and walk back to Twilight and say, “Yes, everything is going well.” “I’m glad, I just hope that everypony else can see how much you are still the same pony, just you look different. I was honestly worried about how this was going to work out, but I see that I have nothing to worry about. I’ll let you continue your lessons in peace.” “Thank you Twilight,” I say, watching her walk out and turning back to my class. I turn to see that Silverstream has managed to guide the whole team through. We switch the leader so that each student has a turn. After they finish I give them their homework assignment, to gain the trust of a complete stranger. As the students file out to go to lunch, I go to follow but change my mind. I am not hungry as the students filled me up with positivity. My second class goes essentially the same, except this one is all ponies, so it is silent. Since they have all been told to fear anything that looks like me. As the students leave I grab the grade book that I made during my third block off, to record attendance and any grades, whether that be participation, homework, or projects. I head out and wander home, hoping not to see anypony on my way. I contemplate teleporting home, but I can’t muster the energy to do so.