//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: In Our Loving Memory // by Comma Typer //------------------------------// “Keep?” “Y-yes, Mom?” In lieu of Mom, it was Celestia across the table. The interview was still ongoing. He blushed. Calling his interviewer Mom was a huge blow to his chances here. It was already bad enough that he’d called his teachers Mom back in grade school, but humiliation on this scale took the cake. Instead of laughing at him like he expected, though, Celestia kept herself to that same calm smile, revealing nothing but vague interest. “You’ve been like this for—“ she checked the clock on her desk “—the past five minutes or so. I’ve tried nudging you, but you wouldn’t budge, so I decided to wait it out. I would rather have you get back to your senses on your own than jolt you unprepared.” At least she was being nice and considerate. Despite that, Keep still shuddered and had been looking around while she spoke. Still the same familiar office, and—five minutes? That was too long. Down the drain went a big chunk of interview time, her time which she set aside specifically for him. “Well… well… argh, sorry, Miss Celestia, but where was I?” “You were saying something about foals loving stories,” Celestia prompted, “and how you’d use stories to help them appreciate history, right?” “Right, right...” Keep wiped his perspired forehead with a hankerchief. This was utter embarrassment. He could never get the job done like this. Celestia did answer his question though. There was still a chance. A long shot, but a worthy shot nonetheless. With a rub of his eyes and a heavy sigh, he charged on: “Okay… w-well, foals do love stories... so they should… they should understand history starting with stories.” Slowly but surely, he was getting his groove back. The focus was on nothing but the words in his head, the scripted things he had prepared in his mind for a long time. “The basic elements of history are stories that really happened.” Already, he was moving his hooves about, gesturing them around like the planner in a heist movie. “Once we get that down, we string them together into a bigger story where all the little stories are connected. “On top of that, however… I think I can tell history a lot better if it was up to me.” He proudly pumped his chest with a hoofthump. “I’ve had so many experiences through the Change which was a monumental moment in history. It played a huge part in my childhood, my teenage years, and me just growing up and maturing into the pony I am today.” Keep felt the fuzzies in his heart, but no time to rest on incomplete laurels. “This mentality of telling these young minds that history is a lot like their lives but in a different time and place—like the bedtime stories they listen to or read but are real instead—would set me apart from the rest. It’s because I know how history impacted me, and it wasn’t a list of names and places and statistics. It’s the little stories and experiences I’ve lived through myself. I can bring students to honor the history we have not because I know we strove together in the past but because I lived through it—I joined everyone in suffering the same disaster, and I was there when we to turned disaster around into… this.” He gestured to the whole room. It wasn’t in flames nor in ruins, but it was a stable, tidy room. Fear and death wouldn’t have kept it this way, but something better, something greater. “We could’ve fallen apart, panicked for months on end. But, instead, we adapted. No, we helped each other adapt. We didn’t want to die off. We wanted to live on, and all the little stories I’ve lived through are more than enough to testify to that… and I believe I have the ability to impart that honor, that appreciation, and that love of who we used to be, who we are, and who we can be to the next generation.” And so, he took one big breath and leaned back on his chair. He was tired and sweaty, but he was content. The hardest part was over. Celestia nodded for what must’ve been the thirtieth time, jotting a line down on her notepad and showing nothing more than intrigue—perfect for poker. More tea was sipped all ladylike, eyes still on the paper. She jotted something down again, quill levitating in her yellow glow as furious scribbling went quietly. All the while, Keep kept quivering. He didn’t show it, but behind the calm facial facade, anxiety lurked. His chances were slim. It wasn't the end of the world if he didn’t get in here, sure. There were plenty other schools in the city, and the prestigious Crystal Prep Academy was his second choice; it possessed just as much experience in magic for a high school as Canterlot High. However, messing up in front of the sun-mover wouldn’t do him any favors. And he just wanted Celestia to say something. Do something, comment on something, anything other than just drinking tea and writing notes. Maybe she was silently judging him, grading him just like a teacher. Either way, the wait was killing him. At long last, Celestia looked up. Her disposition, sunny as always. “That is a good mentality, Keepsake. Thank you. Entering with such a creative perspective would certainly help a lot your way.” She took a sip of tea, or would have had it not been empty. Celestia put it back down. “Speaking of mentalities, you said you’d planned for events before. Let’s talk about your organization skills...” ~ ~ ~ Waiting for a week felt like waiting for a disaster to happen. He’d already contacted Crystal Prep and nearby Everton as well as Charter High. As for that last one, he’d be willing to go for the serve-your-alma-mater option. There was much comfort and sentiment in giving back to the hoof that taught him. One early Sunday, in the pre-morning twilight, as he was eating a bowl of fresh cereal and watching syndicated cartoons from earlier times—from human times—the doorbell rang. Keep got up, leaving the TV to run, and magically opened the door with a glowing turn of the knob. It was Press Run once again. She wasn’t from here originally. She’d moved from a small town in the middle of Neighbraska long after she’d become a pony. A change of scenery was her answer when Keep first met the fresh newspony, but later on, she admitted to getting closer to the action, and living right where the magic began had been her best option yet. “Oh, hi!” Press exclaimed, waving hyperactively with both hoof and wing. “Here’s your news!” Keep brought the broadsheets into his magic glow, and had small talk with the mailmare. The weather, their breakfasts, and that Sirens concert over at Maredison Square Garden last night. The band had barely fit in the venue but it’d worked out anyway and everyone had a good time, she said. However, as he turned back to his house, Press flapped her wings in panic. “Wait! You almost forgot your mail!” He stopped mid-step. “Mail? But it’s a Sunday. I usually don’t get Sunday mail.” “Yeah, but it’s only one letter and it’s from Canterlot High!” The stallion froze in place. A cold wind, real or not, blew by him and sent chills down his back. Press took out the envelope from her bag. “Here it is! I think it’s about that application you talked about last week. Timing sounds spot on, so...” Keep just stood there. Without moving any other muscle, with eyes lasered on his mail, he levitated the envelope closer. Floating in the magic field before his eyes was a brown, plain Manenila envelope. A stamp sealed it shut. That was all what separated him from the truth inside: hired or fired. No time to wait. He ripped the stamp off, took the letter to his eyes, and read. A smile flickered onto his face “Uh, why are you staring at blank paper?” “Wuh?!” His mind jolted into the present and Keep looked up, seeing Spin outside the room. Her long red mane falling around her neck, she was looking down at him like she’d just seen a dog eat homework. He looked at what laid on his hooves: a clean notepad. The stallion brought it back inside the bag, sporting an awkward smile for Spin Out. “Just doing the absolute last thing I have to do before this class!” Her answer was an understanding sigh and an offer to pull him up. In the quiet halls, it was just them. Just him, Spin Out, the door, and less than a minute to go. For all he knew, it was already time. A pat on his shoulders from Spin gave him one last moment of encouragement. “Have a good one, Keep!” she said in a passionate whisper. “You can do this!” “He-he! Thanks for the motivation, Spinnie.” “Don’t mention it!” Just like that, she was off prancing to her next class. She taught biology, he remembered. After so many years, he still couldn’t wrap his head around how that subject would work. There were so many different anatomies to study compared to a human class’s single one. No matter. It was showtime. The jitters climbed up his withers. Butterflies raged in his stomach and itched to deny him peace. They fought to deny him this special moment where he would start truly shining as he was meant to be, as his cutie mark and his destiny meant him to be. Under his breath, he muttered finally, “Let’s get this thing started.” Keep opened the door and strode into the classroom with all the bravado he could muster. Inside, rows of students sat on their student desks, eyes following their first real teacher of the day. The teacher set his saddle bags down on the table and unpacked a couple books. Chalk and eraser left his bag as well though the classroom already had those by the board. Keep did a split-second survey of the whole class. The faces he’d seen on his papers came to life in these flesh-and-blood creatures, all wearing expectant expressions. He knew they wouldn’t want a boring class. Maybe, since it was their first year in high school, they believed history would be taught differently, more excitingly, here. Maybe they were wondering why their teacher’s cutie mark was just an old chair. Maybe they already liked him because he was young and, therefore, potentially cool. Without further ado, he took in one more breath and opened the session. “Good morning class!” declared the teacher, kicking off with jolliness this morning. “I’m Keepsake, but you can call me Keep, and I’m going to be your history teacher for the school year.” None of his students groaned at the mention of history. That was a good sign. Keep then sat not on the teacher’s chair but on the table, hind legs casually dangling off the edge, and he was far from stopping. “Let’s get straight to it and get to know each other, shall we? We can start by telling stories about what happened over the summer. Could be about your vacation trip or a new thing you found out or maybe something embarrassing—“ A blue mare raised her hoof and stood up. “Oh, I got one embarrassing story for you, Mister Keep!” A few gasps sounded in the room, mostly from her friends seated next to her. Something along the lines of “Don’t you dare!” could be heard whispered at the daring speaker. It looked like Spinnie had melted some of the ice here already. Keep leaned his head back. “Oh-ho-ho! And your name is…?” “Paper Trail, mister.” The smug look on her face sold it. That only made Keep more curious about this juicy story up her sleeves. “So, what’s that embarrassing tale you were going to tell? It’s not about you, is it?” Trail shook her head and gestured at the stallion beside her; straight-up embarrassed he looked. “Smoky Cream here was eating cream pie for breakfast, but guess what? He got some of it squirted up his nose!” Fast like lightning, that got the class rolling in laughter mixed in with gasps and what?!’s. The room shook in the rowdy noise. “Oh, come on!” Smoky yelled as he banged on his chair. “You weren’t supposed to say… ah, ah, ah-choo!” Cream-mixed snot splattered on his desk. Keep recoiled at the mess and so did everyone else, everyone spitting out their Eww!’s and Yuck!’s. “Okay… let’s, um, move on to someone else!” Keep said sheepishly, directing all attention back to himself and saving Smoky from more embarrassment. “Who else wants to share a story? Something more, uh, tasteful?“ “Ooh!” Another hoof shot up, this one from a black unicorn. “We went to Rainbow Falls yesterday!” That sent more eyes to the stallion of the hour. Doubtless, he was one of the class’s cool kids with his dapper cap and dapper vest. “In case you didn’t know, sir, my name’s Good Clip!” Keep rubbed his forehooves and leaned in from his able. This was going to be one very interesting class. Clip turned to the rest of the students who were now all ears. “Yeah, so it was a surprise trip my aunt put up. We don’t get to see each other a lot, so she wanted to have this last hurrah before school starts and she returns to her home in Seaddle. She also likes shopping so instead of a mall, of course, she goes to Equestria for the best shopping trip of her life.” Murmurs filled the room. Meanwhile, no one noticed how much Keep was about to burst laughing. His plan was working splendidly. “And would you know it?” Clip went on, looking at all the eager heads heeding him. “We weren’t some commuters or average tourists going to the everypony’s cheap average places. Yeah; as I said, we went to Rainbow Falls. “The trip had tons of mountains, it’s like you were flying while sitting down! Then, the millions of rainbows told us we were near. When we got there, we saw cottages and houses you won’t see anywhere else in that dimension—and it was so tall with so many mountains again, it’s like traveling in Swhickerland!” As he spoke his chronicle, he moved his hooves about, depicting wonderful marvels by swinging them around. “We saw all the sights like Mount Zenith and the Hover Cliffs, hiked all the canyons and high places, and—yes, here we go!—we went to the Traders Exchange and we got lots of stuff, like...“ Clip pulled out dozens of knickknacks from his saddle bag, including figurines, sculptures, shirts, jams, caps, jewelry, comic books, and a packaged deep-fried microwaveable chocolate bar. He rattled on about each part of his haul and how cool they were, galvanizing them with overdone descriptions of every item. As he prattled away, his audience ooh’d and ahh’d at his souvenir loot. “Oh, and I got this one too!” For the grand finale, Clip pulled out a jar and everyone hung their mouths open in awe. It was a jar of pure, crisp, pristine liquid rainbow. It sparkled under the sunlight, sloshing like a thick milkshake as he slowly tipped it this way and that. “Pure Rainbow Falls rainbow, raw and unprocessed!” Clip proclaimed, raising it high for all to see. “It’s fresh from the falls themselves!” It was enough to inspire marvel in Keep. He’d never been to Rainbow Falls before, but the friends who’d been there always talked it up as a dream destination. Perhaps, one day, he would go there with Alloy, but now’s not the time to think about her. Better save it later. Back to reality. Everyone assailed Clip with questions galore, half of them politely asking if they can hold the jar of natural rainbow for a few seconds. “Alright, alright!” bellowed Keep. He had to make sure at least one more student got a chance at storytelling before the actual history course was introduced. “What about another one, someone else to tell a story?” he asked as the commotion died down, holding his hooves out. “Oh... um—“ Every eye aimed at the lone hippogriff seated at the front row. She gulped. All the attention weighed on her as she rubbed her curled beak and fixed her pearly necklace. “F-first off, my name is Thin Air. I moved here from Aris… the Aris here, not the other Aris.” “Really?” Keep asked, shifting towards her. Transfer students always had fun stories and unheard-of episodes to tell. He’d had that experience already with those like Doldina back in grade school. “So, what made you move here?” She scratched her head, gulping a second time in less than half a minute. “Me and my Ma’ wanted to move to greener pastures, have a new leave in life after Pa’ died.” All went silent at that. Keep wasn’t sure how to keep going, but he had to keep up a positive face. Got to make her and everyone else smile. “Oh, d-don’t worry!” she let out while crossing her forelegs in the air a couple times. “It was a long time ago, but we only moved now because of legal stuff. Coming here, though, was a big surprise for me—moving in to the city where it all happened, you know? And coming into this school, the same one that had ponies like Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer, Rainbow Dash… I feel honored to be here… and the friendship too!” At that, she fluttered her wings. For Keep, this was good. It was a great way to pause the icebreaker on a high note. “Well, I hope that you have a good time here too, Air,” Keep said as he scooted to the other side of the table… “but, before we have the rest of the class share some more, I’d like to share a story of my own.” “Tell me it’s as embarrassing as getting cream in your nose,” Smoky half-pleaded. The pony student was still busy wiping his desk clean from the yucky mess fastened to it. “Well, not really,” Keep replied with a shake of his head. “However, it’s a lot more personal than that.” That got everybody’s attention. Heads drew closer, ears bent forward, some chairs in the back were dragged forth to make sure not a single word would go unheard. “Because, you see,” Keep continued, swaying his hind legs off the edge, “well, you all know what the Change is, don’t you?” Everyone nodded, some saying their yes’s. Not one of them looked away; he still had all of their attention. “That’s when the whole world turned topsy-turvy and everyone became the magic creatures we are now, right?” cheeped Thin Air, happy to answer. Keep pointed at her. “Yes, that’s the one!” A moment of silence, then, as he collected his thoughts. Butterflies swelled once more in his stomach, much more so in his heart, but he soldiered on. “Judging from the average age in this class, most of you weren’t born yet when the Change happened, though I’m sure some of you were like a month old or two at the time. Show of hands for any pre-Changers in the room?” A few limbs shot up from among the class. Most of them were hooves, but a claw and a wing joined them. “Good!” Keep exclaimed. “You’re quite lucky with your special human experience even if you were just a baby.” “Yeah, I don’t remember any of it at all,” snarked a griffon chilling in the back row, claws crossed over his feathery chest. It seemed that there was one sarcastic killjoy hanging out here. All being well, Keep would turn that smug frown upside-down. “True,“ the teacher said as he crossed his hindlegs, getting more comfortable and more relatable to the class,“almost no one remembers what happened when they were month-old babies. But for me? I sure do remember going through the Change. In fact, I remember it a lot, a lot more than the average creature if I dare say so myself, and not just because I wasn’t a baby back then…” He chuckled, unwound his legs and hopped off the table, landing on the floor. Now level with everyone else in the room, it was time for the best part to begin. “It’s because the Change happened on my tenth birthday!” Several surprised what’s went through the class. Others snapped their eyes open wide and fully turned their ears toward the teacher. Now, he’s got their attention. “Yeah! It’s true!” His voice rung with anticipation, quelling his internal butterflies and leaving him assured for the rest of the session. “So, how’d I go through it? How did I survive? Well, it all started with me, my family, and my friends celebrating at home...” ~ ~ ~ The lounge’s door creaked open and Keep entered again. The welcome scent of coffee still filled the air and tickled his nostrils. Some old faces were here again, having returned from their previous classes, while some new ones appeared for their first break. Quark was unfortunately still here as well, cracking unfunny jokes, so that was a minus, but the physics jester was still better than a dull old staffroom with nothing fun going on. Faces looked up at Keep trotting by. They had a brighter glow, a brighter aura, around them. Everyone was getting back to the swing of teaching once again. The thrilling kick of early work had fired them up; it was a welcome rest from endless summer vacation trips “Oh, Keep!” Spin Out greeted, waving at him from the dining table while eating a couple snacks. Open boxes of donuts sat on the table with a variety of drinks on the side including, yes, coffee. For a change, however, he took a cold soda bottle instead. “Yeah, hi, Spinnie!” Keep chirped as he took the empty seat beside her, putting the bags down on the floor. Sugary scents wafted from those doughy rings to his snout. For sharing! said the neat sticky note on one of the boxes. “So, how did it go?” Spinnie asked, sipping something cool. Milkshake, milk tea, buttermilk—he wasn’t sure what it was, but it looked refreshing anyway. Exhilaration leaped in his heart. It wouldn’t be a picnic to wipe the smile off his face. “Much better than I expected,” he replied. “We’re behind schedule now ‘cause we’re nowhere near the first lesson, but I think we can take it.” She chuckled, although a little confused. “What makes you say that?” Keep took a donut, this one frosted chocolate. “You know how I was planning to start the first day, don’t you?” “With everyone telling stories, uh-huh.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “So that means you succeeded and everyone wants to learn history now, no?” “At least they got the right attitude,” Keep answered before taking a nibble. “They’ve been pelting me with questions about what it’s like back then, then they ended up sharing what their parents told them about the human era and how they saw it. I only opened my mouth to fact-check; otherwise, I took the backseat and just listened to what they had to say.” He put the donut down on the plate. “For example, Tourmaline’s cousin became a donkey, but he wasn’t scared when it happened. In fact, he went straight to Equestria to learn how to be a donkey right away, just so he could continue working in the office as soon as possible.” Spinnie held up a hoof. “Wait. You mean Tourmaline as in the unicorn with the topaz cutie mark?” “Yup. That’s her.” Keep ended it with another donut bite. It was quite sweet. “I learned that her donkey cousin’s a workaholic!” That left Spinnie tapping her forehooves on the table. “Huh. That is something.” They both shared a few seconds taking another bite of their donuts. “Your next class starts in thirty minutes,” Spinnie reminded, nudging her head toward the clock behind her. “Anything else you want to do here?” “Nah. I’ll just rest up and chow down!” While Spinnie giggled at how easygoing he was, Keep leaned on his chair and looked out the window. The feeling of being a certified, bona fide, and for real a history teacher in Canterlot High came over him not in an enchanting whirlwind of awesomeness but in one calm flow. A silent revelation was this: he’d made it. The day wasn’t done yet. There were five more classes to start and introduce himself to just like that. For now, though, there was the reality that he had done it, and he was going to do it again five more times today, and many times more over the years. The cherry on top was the sweet taste of donuts and a nice bottle of sugary soda streaming down his throat. It might as well have been a celebration’s champagne. “You know what, Spin?” he then asked. “What?” Keep looked out the window again, ears aright. A couple pegasi flew in the sky—hopefully, he wouldn’t be late for Alloy’s date later tonight. Thistle worked with a bush over there, pruning it clean and neat. Over on the sidewalk, Bud was jogging, headband over his head as his massive self trotted on the sidewalk, prepping up for that marathon at the end of the month, now that Keep remembered. Back to the sky, the sun—a reminder of their dear principal—hung over them, its early warmth tender to the touch. It was a good day today, and things were just getting started. Keep’s smile only grew. “I think I’m gonna love it here.”