//------------------------------// // Ponies Your Age // Story: Mind Over Matter // by Boopy Doopy //------------------------------// "I don't think he'll give you any trouble," Ivory Spark told Cheery Leap. "Although he might seem a little… disinterested." Cheery Leap gave a small chuckle at that. "Rambunctious, is he?" She mentally winced at that. "Apathetic,” she told her, not smiling, “and almost despondent." "Oh," the teacher said quietly, the smile quickly dropping from her face. "I'm sorry to hear that." "That's part of the reason I want him in school now, even though there are only a few weeks left. From what I've been told, he's had virtually no interaction with colts and fillies his age, and from what I've seen, there aren't many things he likes to do, except practice his magic." "Finding friends for him shouldn't be difficult here. Although, a few of the students can be a bit…" She stopped, leaving what she was going to say unfinished, then continued, "But most of them aren't going to be a problem, and I'll see to it that he's making friends." "That's good to hear. Also, I was wondering, do you still take your classes to Canterlot every year?" "Of course!" she answered, her smile returning. "I was actually thinking of coordinating with the teacher from Ponyville again this year." "That's perfect. He really needs something to look forward to, and telling him about it was just about the only time I've seen him smile." She frowned a bit again at that. "Can I ask what's troubling him?" "I'll be sending over a full report with all of that information tomorrow. Just be aware it won't be an easy read." "Oh, I hate to hear that. I'll make sure he likes it here." "Do you need us to carry you?" Herbal Essence asked me as she and I, along with Thundertail, slowly walked from their home to where I'd be going to school. I knew my pace was slowing us down, especially since I was barely putting any weight on the hoof that was fractured. I kind of wanted to accept her offer, but remembered that Doctor Spark wanted me to walk more than I was, and declined. "If you need any help," she continued, "you can always ask. Okay?" "I know," I started. "I've…" "What?" she asked, slightly concerned. "Nothing," I said simply, and tried to walk a bit faster. I was going to tell her that I've been through things like this, but I decided that I didn't want to be questioned or relive those experiences. So instead, I walked quietly forward, taking in Baltimare. I assumed it was a big city, since Baltimare was just a play on Baltimore, and it seemed more planned out than what I remembered seeing Ponyville in the show being. However, it was kind of quiet, with just a few other ponies walking around. While it did look like it stretched out for miles, I couldn't see that many tall buildings, although that might have just been my height obscuring their view. Walking through the city felt slightly familiar. Not to this colt body, but to me. I felt like I was a kid again, completely worry free, and my mother was walking me to school or to the store. It felt like I still had my whole life ahead of me. Although, where I lived, it was warm almost all year, and the air we walked through now felt a bit colder than it did when I first came here. A strong gust of wind a few seconds later made the feeling quickly fade away. It wasn’t that long of a walk, maybe several blocks, before we came up to a schoolhouse that looked a lot like the one I knew was in Ponyville. It was bright red, almost pink, and was one story tall with a school bell, much like the one in Ponyville. It looked like it was one room, and as we walked up, I saw in front of the school ten to fifteen ponies playing outside, who all looked around the same age as me. Seeing them was a sudden reminder to me of just how old I was. I was an adult. I was probably only a couple of years younger than Thundertail, maybe even the same age, and closer to Herbal Essence’s age than the ponies I saw playing. And yet I knew that they were going to expect me to make friends with them, the thought of which started to make me feel embarrassed, as well as a bit uncomfortable. Embarrassed by the idea that I would have to make friends with ponies so young, and uncomfortable by the idea of who I was potentially rubbing off on them. We made our way into the building to see a room that looked an awful lot like the schoolroom in Ponyville. Inside was a slightly older looking yellow mare with brown glasses, who I could only assume to be the teacher. She wore a smile as he walked over to greet us, and let out a hoof to shake Herbal Essence and Thundertail. "I'm glad you all could be here," she told the two, then bent her neck down to look me in the eyes. "I hear that you need to take a test?" "I guess," I shrugged. "That's perfect. If you could just take a seat right here?" She pointed to a desk directly to the right of us near the entrance, and went to retrieve a few papers from her desk, as well as a pencil. She set them in front of me, saying, "This is going to be your assigned seat. You can start the test whenever you're ready, and skip over anything you don't understand." I quickly glanced down at the paper, seeing a list of math problems, and looked back up at her. "I can't write," I told her. Cheery Leap was surprised to see that he couldn't write. She hadn't yet gotten around to reading the report Ivory Spark had given her, so assumed that, when she said he practiced magic, he was very proficient in it. She wasn't prepared to see that he could barely pick up the pencil, and couldn't keep the shock off her face. But she caught herself a moment later after seeing the look the colt gave her, and told him, "Well, I guess you'll just have to tell me the answers out loud so I can write them down for you." The two worked through the sheet, and watched as he started with simple addition and subtraction problems and went up to double-digit multiplication and fractions, sometimes moving his hoof to draw out problems in his head. Once he admitted to not being able to solve anymore, they moved on to reading, where he read sentences and gave meanings to words well above what a colt his age should have been able to read and comprehend. Lastly, they did history and science, where his answers turned out to be about what she expected. After all was said and done, she congratulated him. "You did really well!" she said with a smile. "As good as a colt or filly twice your age! Now, let's…" She stopped when she saw his expression, one that was conveying disappointment, and almost embarrassment. "I'm so stupid," Leo said quietly. Ivory Spark had mentioned to Cheery Leap that he had self confidence issues, but she didn't expect them to be to this extent. Most foals would have been excited to hear that they were performing well above average, not seemingly embarrassed for not being able to do more. "You did better than anypony I've seen for your age," she told him. "Even older ponies would struggle with some of these questions, especially with math, and you were able to work the problems out in your head." Even more embarrassment came to him as he looked down the desk. What he was hearing from her was that children half his age were smarter than him. He felt like he should have been able to go farther, and probably would have had he not screwed himself over before. "I could have done better if I weren't so stupid," he told her. Cheery Leap opened her mouth to say something, but Herbal Essence spoke first. "Leo, look at me," she told him. He looked into her eyes, and she told him, "You're not stupid," in a manner that was both caring and slightly forceful. "I don't want to hear you say those things about yourself, okay?" He almost told her that what he said was true, but didn't. The way the mare had about her made Leo almost want to believe her. Even if he was still a human, he might still have nearly bought in to what she was saying, perhaps more so even. But right now, he felt stupid, and didn’t believe her claim that he wasn’t. Still, for her, he simply said, “Okay.” “There’s nothing else you need to do, Leo,” Cheery Leap told him starting to change the subject, “and you don’t have to be in class today if you don’t want to be. But you can play outside with the other colts and fillies for now if you’d like to.” A group of five or six colts made their way up to me as soon as I stepped outside again, the three adults remaining inside. They were all different colors, except more of the muted shades that I’d been seeing thus far. They also all had looks of curiosity on their faces, mixed with a bit of excitement at what I assumed to be the idea of meeting someone new. “I’ve never seen you before,” one of them told me. “What’s your name?” "Nothing like a five-year-old to get straight to the point," I thought. “Leo,” I told the group. “How old are you?” “Um, five.” “We’re six,” a different pony told me. “Except for him,” they continued, pointing to the first one. “He’s seven.” I guess they weren’t the same age as me. That was interesting. Evidently, Doctor Spark thought it would be better to put me with ponies slightly above my age group. I wasn’t expecting that, but I wasn’t going to complain. Six and seven-year-olds would be easier for me to interact with than four and five-year-olds. “How did you get hurt?” a third pony asked, noticing a cast on one leg and bandages on another. “I don’t want to talk about it.” “Oh,” they said thoughtfully, then asked, “Do you want to play with us?” “Not particularly,” I thought, “but since there’s nothing better to do…” “I guess,” I told them. “Okay, then you’re it!” the first one said, and touched me with a hoof before running away. The rest of them took off with him and laughed, expecting me to start chasing them. However, they turned back and looked at me confused when they saw that I didn't take a single step. “You’re supposed to chase us,” one of them called out, as though I didn’t understand how to play “tag”. “How am I supposed to catch you?” I asked them genuinely. “I won’t be able to chase you in this thing.” I held out the leg that had the cast. One of them put a hoof on their chin, as though they were thinking, and told me, “You can try.” That was roughly the reaction I expected. However, rather than explain to them why the scenario would be unfair or suggest a different game, I went along with their request and tried to chase after them. But as slow as I was, I wasn’t able to get them, and they quickly grew bored of me after a few minutes. “You’re too slow,” one of them told me. “Obviously,” I thought, and tried to explain, “I can only go so fast.” They humphed at that, and one of them said, “You’re no fun.” This was about what I was expecting with interacting with them. I couldn’t say that I ever particularly liked children, or foals in this case, and this was the reason why. Still, despite my expectations, despite how small the comment was, it got to me, and started to make my eyes wet. “I’m leaving,” I said quietly, turning to make my way back inside as they started their game again. "Can I ask what got him so upset?" Cheery Leap asked the couple. "Doctor Spark sent me a report, but I haven't yet taken the time to read it." "He has really low self-esteem," Herbal Essence told her sadly. "I really hate to see him demean himself like that." The teacher looked around for a second, as though somepony might be watching, and whispered, "What happened?" She watched as the mare she asked flinched at the question, and looked to Thundertail, who mouthed something. Understanding what he was saying, she put a hoof up to her mouth. "Oh, my. That's awful!" "It's horrible," the green mare agreed, becoming upset by the thought. "Well, at least he's in better hooves now." Herbal Essence caught sight of me once I entered, and immediately asked me what was wrong. I lay down on the ground in front of a desk and responded bitterly, “Apparently, I’m no fun.” “What happened?” she asked, looking as though she was holding back tears. “I can’t chase them because of this dumb cast.” I knew it was ridiculous to be upset by it. I didn’t really want to interact with them to begin with, and even if I did, I could have easily suggested doing something else. But while I was in much better control of myself now, I still had a more childish view on things, which made their comments hurt, even though it was insignificant. “You can ask to play a different game,” Herbal Essence suggested.  My childish perspective, combined with how far behind people my age I learned I was during that test, put me in too bad a mood to do that. “I want to go back home,” I told her.