//------------------------------//
// Day 19: Back to school: 
// Story: Afterlife 
// by Star Sparkle 
//------------------------------//

As I woke up, Twilight called, ‘’Star! It’s time to get up.‘’

‘’I’m up,‘’ I called back, still tired and annoyed.

As I woke up a bit more, I wondered why Twilight didn’t nuzzle me to wake up. I liked it.

As I woke up a bit more, I felt moist down by my crotch and quickly removed the sheets and saw a large, dark, and damp spot on the mattress, ‘No! No! No! No, no no no no no!’ I couldn’t believe it, it was impossible, and in my panic, I thought I heard a sound from my door and turned my head, but the door didn’t open, ‘Twilight wasn’t on her way in.’ I thought and relaxed a bit.

‘’Star! Are you up?‘’ Twilight called.

‘’I, um… I’m up!‘’ I called back.

‘’Breakfast is ready soon.‘’

‘’Coming!‘’ I called back, but thought, ‘She can’t see, I won’t let her. I’ll just have to deal with this when I come home.’ I got up and used my sheet to clean myself.
I made my bed so Twilight or Spike couldn’t see and jumped down.
As I smelled myself, the stench of urine was there, but it wasn’t bad, ‘Would Twilight or Spike notice?’ I walked to my door; I had to go and get a bit cleaner in the bathroom.

Out in the living room, I saw Twilight as she walked towards me; she stopped, smiled, and asked, ‘’What took you so long?‘’

‘’Um, I’m still a bit tired,‘’ I said as I tried to hide my rear body and rubbed my eye with my hoof, just to sell that I was tired.

‘’Okay then,‘’ Twilight said, she sounded to buy my story and continued, ‘’come on, breakfast is ready, and Spike made waffles.‘’ She said as she turned towards the table.

As she walked, I said, ‘’I have to go to the bathroom!‘’ But it came out a bit more abruptly than I would have liked.

Twilight turned her head towards me, looked confused, but said, ‘’Okay, just call if you need some help.‘’

‘’I will,‘’ I said as I felt I walked a bit faster than expected.

I went to the bathroom sink, took a piece of cloth, washed it, got some soap on, and washed myself. Once done, I took a towel and dried myself. After I was done, I walked back out to Twilight and Spike, where I ate my breakfast.

As we ate, Twilight said, ‘’Star, I know what happened this morning.‘’

It felt like I had a heart attack and was about to spit the juice out that I was drinking, but I had to remain calm and drooled the juice back in the glass before I asked, ‘’W-what do you mean?‘’

‘’I know you aren’t too happy about going to school, and if I could have postponed it, I would have done so.‘’ Twilight said as my heart rate slowed down before she continued, ‘’But I still hope you’ll have a good time while you’re there.‘’

‘’Thanks Twily.‘’ I said before I remembered what Apple Bloom told me about a club and said, ‘’Umm… Yesterday Apple Bloom asked me if I wanted to be in a club she had started with two other ponies.‘’

‘’That sounds fun, when is your first meeting?‘’

‘’Twilight!‘’ I complained, ‘’I haven’t yet decided to join, as the point of the club is to get a Cutie Mark, and you know I can’t get one.‘’

‘’True, but I would believe they also do other things.‘’

‘’That doesn’t matter, Twilight, they’re fillies!‘’ I paused, and as I knew my past, it was odd to be friends with ten-year-olds, and I said, ‘’And I’m…‘’

‘’I know it could feel odd Star.‘’ Twilight said as she came closer, ‘’But this could still be a way for you to make friends and who knows, maybe you will find your hidden special talent.‘’

‘’But you said that if I could get a Cutie Mark, then I would already have one.‘’

‘’Yes, that is my theory, but not one that’s necessarily true,‘’ Twilight answered.

I lowered my head, ‘Why does no one here have any answers?’ I thought before Twilight lifted my head and gave me a nuzzle. I would never get tired of that; I just felt safe, as all my problems were gone.

As Twilight was done, she pulled her head back and left me to look up at her; I just wanted to stay home and nuzzle into her fur.
As I was still lost in the previous nuzzle, Twilight said, ‘’Tell you what, tell Apple Bloom and her friends that you aren’t familiar with Cutie Marks and that you would rather wait for yours and not try to force it. And if you want to be friends with them, then go ahead.‘’

‘’Thanks big sis.‘’ I said as Twilight smiled softly at me, and we ate the rest of our delicious breakfast as I commented with a mouth full, ‘’You’ll definitely get a Cutie Mark in cooking Spike.‘’

‘’Thanks Star, but dragons don’t get Cutie Marks.‘’

‘’Oh.‘’ I could only say before I swallowed.

‘’Star, it’s not polite to talk with your mouth full,‘’ Twilight said.

‘’Sorry Twily.‘’ I said as I felt my blood go to my head, I thought, ‘Why do I keep doing that?’

After we ate, Twilight took me to her bed and brushed my mane, tail, and fur. Again I was still so relaxed that I leaned on Twilight and her brushstroke controlled my breathing.

Once Twilight was done, I got my brown saddlebag strapped on me, and Spike placed a paper bag lunch in the saddlebag before Twilight asked, ‘’You ready to go Star?‘’

‘’Hmm…?‘’ Then I remembered Flurry and ran towards my room's door; I needed to make sure she was okay.

‘’You want Flurry with you?‘’ Twilight asked.

I stood in front of my door, and I realized that I forgot Flurry after I woke up and if I got her now, Twilight would discover that I had wet my bed, ‘Quick! Think of something!’

‘’It’s okay if you want her with you.‘’ Twilight’s voice was much closer than before.

I turned around and saw her right behind me as she looked at me with worried eyes before I finally spoke up and said, ‘’No, it’s okay. I just remembered, I put her to bed after I got up, so she’s properly sleeping now anyways.‘’

‘’Alright then, if you’re sure. Come on, let’s go.‘’ I nodded and followed her and Spike as we walked towards the Ponyville Schoolhouse.

We walked a bit out of the town before I saw a golden bell on top of a red building. The building looked like a regular old fashioned house. It was probably the schoolhouse.
Around it was a white fence, probably to make sure all the fillies and colts knew where the school ground ended. I saw a few young ponies around the schoolhouse around my new age, but I didn’t see Apple Bloom but spotted Diamond Tiara without Silver Spoon.

Out of the door to the schoolhouse came Ms. Cherrilee. As we approached her, she greeted, ‘’Hello Twilight, hello Spike.‘’ She turned to me and said, ‘’And welcome Star, what do you think of our schoolhouse?‘’

‘’It looks nice,‘’ I said with a nervous smile.

As Twilight and Ms. Cherrilee talked, I looked around, and some ponies had noticed me and stared at me for a moment, but quickly they just went back to whatever they were doing before.

I looked back at Twilight, Spike, and Ms. Cherrilee before Twilight said, ‘’Okay Star, it’s time for Spike and I to go now, but after school we’ll be here to pick you up, okay?‘’

I slowly nodded, ‘This is really happening; I’m starting in school with ten year old's, but this time as a girl,’ I stopped nodding, and my mind began racing faster than I could follow, and as fast as I could, I hugged Twilight’s stomach, I only knew I didn’t want her to go. Tears ran down my face, and a leg with a pair of arms wrapped around me as Twilight shushed me while she rubbed my back.

After a bit, I felt more calmed down and slowly loosened my legs from Twilight. When I stood back on the ground, I looked up at her and saw her soft smile, one I tried to return, it was difficult, but Twilight said, ‘’You’ll be fine, and when you get home you can just stay nuzzled into my fur for as long as you want to. Deal?‘’ I nodded, and after a quick hug from Twilight and Spike, they walked to the white fence and towards town and left me alone.

I looked around and spotted Ms. Cherrilee as she walked back inside the schoolhouse; I followed her inside the schoolhouse.

Inside I looked to my left, and there were maybe twelve decks, three across and four rows. There was a blackboard on the right, and in front of me at the windows, there was a teacher's desk and Ms. Cherrilee right behind it, she saw me and looked a bit surprised before she said, ‘’Star? The bell hasn’t rung yet. Why don’t you head outside? I believe Diamond Tiara is here.‘’

‘’Oh, okay. What about my saddlebag?‘’

‘’Take the third row towards the window; that’s your desk.‘’

‘’Thanks,‘’ I said before I walked towards the desk.

As I walked, I saw names on the desk, and I recognized a few of the names, Apple Bloom, who sat in the second row and in the middle of Diamond Tiara, who had the window and was in front of me, and Silver Spoon was on Apple Bloom’s right side.

Else I saw other names like Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, which sounded familiar; Snips, Snails, and Twist were names I knew I had never heard before.

There was no name at my desk; it looked reasonably clean, the seat itself was odd as it didn’t have a back. As I thought more about it, I guessed it made sense; I had never wanted to lay down on my back more than my stomach. The desk itself had a small compartment for storage, properly, so I didn’t need to walk with all my books.

I took my saddlebag off and placed it between my seat and the window, and as I remembered what Ms. Cherrilee said about going outside, I walked towards the door and went out.

As I walked outside, I saw Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon as they were about to step inside, they smiled and took me into a shared hug, it felt a bit awkward, but I hugged them back.
We released each other, and Diamond Tiara asked, ‘’Have you told Apple Bloom yet?‘’

‘’Nope.‘’ I couldn’t help but giggle as it was really a thing I looked forward to, ‘’She has no idea.‘’

‘’Perfect, but let’s wait until our first recess.‘’

‘’Huh?‘’

‘’Just pretend you don’t know us.‘’

‘’Why?‘’

‘’Trust me, we’re friends, right?‘’ Diamond Tiara said, and I could help it as I thought back on what Twilight had told me about what happened while I was gone that Pinkie Pie had a Pinkie sense and to trust friends, so I nodded and said, ‘’Okay, I trust you.‘’ 

She pulled me into another hug and said, ‘’It’s going to be so much fun.‘’

‘’Definitely.‘’

‘’Silver Spoon and I better go inside before Apple Bloom turns up.‘’

‘’See you at recess,‘’ I said as they walked inside and I walked further outside.

As I looked around, I became a bit frustrated, ‘Why did Twilight wake me up so early? She could have waited just a few more minutes.’

As I thought back on this morning, I remembered that I needed to find out how I could either hide or clean my bed after what happened this morning, but my thoughts were broken as I saw a familiar pony with a red bow on her way to school, but with her, there was two other ponies, same height, so maybe same age. Then I realized it; those were the two fillies Apple Bloom told me about yesterday, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, that’s why those names sounded familiar.

As they walked past the white fence and the orange pony, on some sort of scooter, pointed at me,  Apple Bloom nodded, and the orange pony seemed excited as Apple Bloom ran over to me, hugged me, released me and said, ‘’He’ye Star, these two are those I told you about yesterday.‘’

The white filly then said in a much higher pitch than my own, ‘’I’m Sweetie Belle.‘’

‘’And I’m Scootaloo.‘’ The orange filly said with a bit more ruff voice; it sounded a bit like Rainbow’s voice, maybe it was her little sister.

Before they all yelled in unison, ‘’And together we’re the Cutie Mark Crusaders!‘’ and my ears closed themselves to my head.

I opened my ears again as I said, ‘’Nice to meet the two of you; I’m Star Sparkle.‘’

‘’So Star?‘’ Apple Bloom asked, ‘’Did you decide to join the Cutie Mark Crusaders yet?‘’

But before I said anything, Scootaloo said, ‘’It’s gonna be awesome, and with the four of us, we’re sure going to get our Cutie Marks in no time.‘’

‘’Yeah, we’ll be unstoppable, ‘’ Sweetie Belle said before she asked, ‘’so what do you say?‘’

‘’Umm… I don’t know, I don’t really get the deal about Cutie Marks, but it could still be fun to hang out together.‘’

‘’What!‘’ Scootaloo yelled in response, like what I said was of madness, ‘’You don’t want a Cutie Mark?! What kind of crazy talk is that?‘’

‘’I just don’t-‘’ I tried to say.

‘’Scootaloo,‘’ Apple Bloom interjected, ‘’she didn’t say she didn’t wanna, she said she got the deal with Cutie Marks, haven't you thought you wouldn’t get you Cutie Mark?‘’

‘’But she- I mean-‘’ Scootaloo tried to defend herself.

Sweetie Belle came next to me and said, ‘’I know girls.‘’ Before she got her front leg around my neck, ‘’We just have to teach her about Cutie Marks and how great they are.‘’

The two fillies nodded in agreement, and now all of them looked at me with the most adorable puppy eyes. ‘If I say no-, who am I kidding, I can’t say no now, I’ not a monster,’ so I said, ‘’Okay, I’ll join.‘’

Suddenly, I was tackled, hugged, and heard cheers from the fillies; only the sound of a bell stopped their cheering. I was helped up, and the voice of Ms. Cherrilee said, ‘’Okay my little ponies, it’s time for class.‘’

I walked with the fillies, and step by step, I got closer to the schoolhouse, but on the way, I noticed that on the side of Apple Bloom saddlebag, there hung a sun plushie, the sun plushie I gave her.

Inside I got to my seat and saw that Sweetie Bell was next to me, and Scootaloo was in the front to the right, closet to the door.
,
As all the ponies were seated, Ms. Cherrilee, in a cherry mood, said, ‘’Good morning my little ponies.‘’

‘’GOOD MORNING MS. CHEERILEE!!!‘’ The whole class, except me, said in unison.

She walked over to her desk, and still in her cherry mood, she said, ‘’As some of you have noticed, we have a new filly joining us and so I would like to introduce everypony to Star Sparkle.‘’ As she pointed her hoof at me and I felt all eyes fell on me, and Ms. Cherrilee continued, ‘’Star, why don’t you come up here and tell us something about yourself.‘’

However, something told me I didn’t have a choice, and I stood up and said, ‘’I’m Star-‘’

‘’No no Star, up here, in front of the class.‘’ Ms. Cherrilee said, her tone was still cheerful; I nodded and walked to the front of the class, with only a few giggles.

As I stood next to Ms. Cherrilee, I said, ‘’My name is Star Sparkle, and I live here in Ponyville with my big sister and my dragon brother, while my parents live in Canterlot.‘’ I said, but as I said it, I sounded more insecure than I would’ve liked.

I looked at Ms. Cherrilee, who smiled before asking, ‘’Does anypony have any questions for Star? Remember, when you’re picked, to say your name.‘’

The pony in the front middle, who had white fur and curly red mane and tail, glasses and braces, raised her hoof; Ms. Cherrilee pointed and said, ‘’Yes, Twist?‘’

Before the pony said, ‘’My name’s Twist, do you have any hobbies, Star?‘’

‘’Hi Twist, well… I like to do magic.‘’ I answered.

Sweetie Belle raised her hoof as she uttered, ‘’Oooh ohh.‘’

‘’Yes, Sweetie Belle?‘’

‘’Well, as a fellow crusader, you know my name is Sweetie Belle, but why do you live with Twilight and not with your parents in Canterlot.‘’ She asked and took my breath away.

I had no idea if I should say anything, I forgot to ask Twilight ‘Crap,’ I looked at Ms. Cherrilee, who nodded, and I said, ‘’Well, a few weeks ago I lost all memories about my parents and who I was, but Twilight found me, and because she wanted to I live with her now.‘’

‘’I- I had no idea.‘’ Sweetie Belle said, and it was like a dark cloud had overcome the entire classroom.

‘’It’s okay really; I’m happy to live with my big sis,‘’ I said, and it brightened the classroom up a bit.

‘’Final question.‘’ Ms. Cherrilee said.

Some still had their hooves up in the air, and Ms. Cherrilee said, ‘’Yes, Snails.‘’

As I looked at him, he looked familiar, a yellow coat and green mane, as he asked, ‘’I’m Snails, do you know any awesome magic?‘’

‘’I can make my light and levitate a quill or a crayon,‘’ I said.

The whole class let out a long and collect, ‘’Wooow.‘’

‘’Really?‘’ Ms. Cherrilee asked, ‘’Have you already come that far?‘’

‘’Yes,‘’ I said, unsure if it was really that impressive.

Ms. Cherrilee smiled before she said, ‘’Well, if you’re as good in school as with your magic, you shouldn’t have a problem.‘’

‘’Thank you, Ms. Cherrilee.‘’

‘’Now, back to your desk.‘’ I nodded and walked back to my seat.

Back at my seat Ms. Cherrilee said, ‘’Okay my little ponies, today we’re going to do some math equations.‘’

‘’Awwwww.‘’ The ponies all growed.

Unlike everypony else, I was actually okay with this, ‘Is it unfair that I have many years’ worth of knowledge and they only have a few, well…? Not for me.‘’

Ms. Cherrilee came down to my desk with a few books, one being ‘Math for Fillies & Colts,’ ‘Equestria’s History Vol. 1: For Fillies & Colts.’ and other books I didn’t care much for.

I looked back towards Ms. Cherrilee as she said, ‘’I have written these few equations which we will go through together. After you’ll get a sheet of paper with fifty new equations that you’ll solve yourself.‘’

As I looked at the blackboard, it was ‘5x8’, ‘9x6’, ‘10x4’ & ‘7x3’ My eyes relaxed and a smile grew on my face, maybe I would be able to get some sleep after all.

Ms. Cherrilee then asked, ‘’Does anypony wish to raise their hoof?‘’

But no hoof was raised, so I raised mine, and Ms. Cherrilee asked, ‘’Yes Star, do you need to go to the bathroom?‘’

‘You gotta be kidding me you !!!!!!!’ I thought but said, ‘’No, I’m okay to try and solve an equation, or four if no one else wants to.‘’ Finally, I was going to be the smart kid in class.

‘’Are you sure?‘’

‘’I’m sure.‘’

‘’Okay then, which one do you wanna try?‘’

‘’Umm… 9x6 is 54.‘’

‘’Well done Star.‘’ Ms. Cherrilee congratulated.

My cockiness overtook me, and I continued, ‘’5x8 is 40, 10x4 is also 40, and 7x3 is 21.‘’ As I finished, my cheekbones hurt from my smiling, and as I looked around, all the ponies stared at me, which caused me to rethink ‘Maybe I should have stuck by my story a bit closer, a filly with no memories about her past does this well in school.’

Ms. Cherrilee interrupted my thoughts as she said, ‘’Yes, that’s correct, all of it.‘’

The class erupted in cheers, like nothing I had ever seen before, it felt weird as I was in the spotlight of a class of ten-year-olds, but it was fun.

Ms. Cherrilee calmed the class down as she said, ‘’Settle down everypony, settle down. Excellent Star, tell me, what is 240/48?‘’

I thought for quite a bit before Ms. Cherrilee said, ‘’It’s okay Star, it was maybe a bit too difficult.‘’

But I raised my hoof and said, ‘’5.‘’

Ms. Cherrilee blinked a bit before she said, ‘’Co-correct. But umm, let’s get back on track now.‘’

‘’Awwww…‘’ The entire class said.

‘’What if that’s Star’s special talent,‘’ Scootaloo said, ‘’shouldn’t we at least try and who knows, maybe she’ll even get her Cutie Mark.‘’

‘’Star is gifted Scootaloo, but earring once Cutie Marks shouldn't come before school.‘’ Ms. Cherrilee said, properly so they other students could learn something as well.

We got a sheet of paper, and I looked through my saddlebag and found that Twilight must have prepared it in advance as there were multiple pencils and a few blue crayons alongside some blank papers; I took a pencil with my hoof. Still, as I was about to write, I looked around and saw all the ponies, unicorns, pegasus, and earth ponies alike, used their mouths as they wrote; I tried to use my hoof at first. Still, as I felt I got more and more stares towards me and even more pain in my hoof, I lay the pencil down and raised my hoof, but found that Ms. Cherrilee helped Diamond Tiara, at least she was close.

After a bit, Ms. Cherrilee got up, and I got out a small, ‘’Oooh.‘’ As I raised my hoof even higher, just to be sure I got picked.

Ms. Cherrilee noticed and got down to my eye level and asked, ‘’Are you having any trouble Star?‘’

But I answered with, as low a voice as I could, ‘’I don’t know how to write.‘’

‘’Sorry?‘’

So I answered normal, ‘’I don’t really know how to write.‘’

‘’Really?‘’ I nodded; Ms. Cherrilee looked at my paper, took her own pencil, and as she pointed at ‘8x6’ she asked, ‘’What’s that?‘’

‘’48,‘’ I answered.

She pointed at four equations and asked what they were, and after I got them right, she said, ‘’Good, now I got a little special assignment for you.‘’

‘’Okay.‘’ Now I knew that I should just have stuck by my story.

Ms. Cherrilee came back from her desk and said, ‘’Check the rest of the book for anything you would have difficulty with, and we’ll talk later.‘’

I nodded, and she took my sheet of paper and walked to the next pony as I used the rest of the class to look at a book that I knew how to do all of it; it was way below me.