"Letter from Comet," I say as I come into the house, tossing the other mail onto the coffee table.
Cheerilee rushes out of the kitchen where she'd been making our dinner and instantly snatches the envelope out of my hands. Yeah, she's my daughter too, Cheers. She runs over to the couch and tears it open to begin reading. I take a seat next to her and read over her shoulder.
Dear Mom and Dad and Oswald
College is rad so far. Even though I'm only a week in I've already been to six different parties and only gotten absolutely smashed at five of them! I'm quick and it turns out that CMU doesn't really have any flying members of campus security so it's not that hard for me to get away. well it's a bit hard because I'm a sip of booze away from being blackout drunk (LOL) but I can hold my booze a little better than you'd think.
Don't worry about me I'll totes still get to my classes on time and whatever Most of the students here tell me that with sufficient practice, you can still do well in school even through repeated hangovers. Besides, its college. Now's the time to experiment when I can amirite? Speaking of Mint Swirl says that it's also a good time to "explore" a bit with the same sex so I figured why not and... wow. Mint Swirl is absolutely spectacular in bed. Probably the best piece of plot in the entire school! Best I've ever had, that's for sure though if you don't know about the others then NVM. Might have a new marefriend when I come to visit. ;)
Though you might want to put some sound spells around my room so that we don't keep you guys up at night XD LOL. Still not sure if I'm switching to mares or if it's just a "fillyfooler until graduation" kind of thing. Got four years to experiment and find out, right
I've been talking to a lot of the older ponies around here to see which classes I actually need to try in to get a A and it turns out that I only have one or two this simester that I need to put some like time and effort into. You don't even need to study for my math class because the professor is such a ditz and you just need to ask nicely or some flank wiggling if you're a mare and he'll give you some extra credit assignments. Totes gotta try that
Gotta run. Party starting soon. Love you all and send money whenevs.
XOXOXOXO
Comet
Cheerilee and I exchange a look, then look back at the letter, then back to each other.
"So," I say after a few moments. "Who's getting in trouble for that, then?"
"Well, either whoever is pranking us, or Comet if she's really doing this," Cheerilee replies.
I scoff and shake my head before going back to the other letters in case one of them is actually from Comet. "Yeah, don't think so. Either way..." I take a letter out of the pile. "This one also says that it's from Comet. Maybe this one will be a little more like her?"
"I hope so. It should have better punctuation either way," Cheerilee says.
"Only one way to find out."
I sit on the couch and open the letter.
Dear Mom, Dad and Oswald
College is going well so far. Not a lot has been going on except for a few programs for the freshmares to get acclimated to college life. The dining hall food is actually not so bad as long as you know what to avoid. Like the eggs. Everypony has already assured me that I should never get the eggs.
Mint Swirl is crazy, but I never really see her except when I wake up in the morning. I've had to talk to the RA a couple of times because I've woken up to other ponies in her bed too. One stallion and one mare, actually. Tea Leaf has talked to her about it, though, so hopefully that stops. I can't see waking up to the sounds of her puking in the bathroom because she's so drunk stopping. Tea Leaf has talked to her about that, too.
The best part is talking to the other bat ponies! I haven't met all of them in the dorms yet, but Night Blade and I have hit it off pretty well. We're both straight, so I don't think you have to worry about me coming home with a new marefriend, despite Mint Swirl's lewd comments.
Tea Leaf has talked to her about a lot.
We're starting a bat pony club in the school in a few days here, so I'm really looking forward to that! I've learned a lot about bat pony culture this past week, which is the best part of college so far. Ponyville was great, but it's not like there was a bat pony community there. Some of the other bat ponies have lived in places like that, or had parents who worked for Princess Luna, so it's really fascinating. Obviously not every bat pony or bat pony community is the same, but it's good to learn about some general cultural things.
None of us suck blood, though, so that's probably a relief for a lot of ponies. I haven't met any ponies who think that "bat pony" is a phrase that only we can use and that everypony else should call us "thestrals", but I do know that "vampony" is considered a bit of a slur to the average bat pony. Makes sense, I guess. I found out that a lot of bat ponies were killed a long time ago because local villages thought that they were vamponies.
Classes have just really been orientation so far. I feel like I could fill a whole binder with all of the pages of syllabus that I've gotten, but nothing looks too difficult so far. It looks like you were right when you said that a lot of the first semester's classes are recap of senior year. Nothing about your exploits though, Dad.
A lot of ponies have asked me about stuff like that, which is weird. I mean, I can't really give them a lot more details about the stuff you did because it's pretty much all in the book. I'm not pestered too much about it, so that's good. To these ponies, it's almost like I'm just Comet Screech instead of Comet Powell.
So far things are good. I'm really excited to see what college brings. Love you all and hope you're doing well.
Love
Comet
I'm smiling as I put the letter down. "Yeah, I think that one's from Comet, if for no other reason than that this letter has her mouthwriting, unlike the other one."
"Yes, the other one's writing is nothing like hers. We'll have to contact the school and see if we can't figure out what happened there. If nothing else, I don't want any more letters like that."
"Well then, here's hoping Comet doesn't actually do all of that, or if she does, that she doesn't write to us and tell us all about it."
"Definitely."
* * * *
"So your roommate is on super, ultra probation, right?"
I nod as Night Blade and I make our way through campus to the university center for the first meeting of the bat pony club. "Yeah, they figured it out pretty quickly that she was the one who sent the letter to my parents. Not that hard once they compared mouthwriting." I roll my eyes. "She said that she was pretty drunk when it happened."
"Well, hopefully it won't happen again," Night Blade says, opening the door of the university center for me.
"Even if it does, my parents know that it's not from me, and she'll be expelled, so I'm not too worried about it. She's been a lot calmer these days. I haven't woken up to see her in bed with another mare, then her waggling her eyebrows at me and asking if I cared to join in." I sigh and shake my head. "If it gets bad again, Tea Leaf says I can switch rooms."
"Well, maybe we can be roommies at some point!" Night Blade sqees. "That would be the best!"
Even though we've only known each other for a week, we've already become good friends. She seems much more level-headed than my current roommate. We'd get along much better.
Or we'd kill each other.
As we reach one of the conference rooms in the UC, I see the sign announcing the bat pony club. I take a deep, quiet breath to steady myself. I've talked to a few of the bat ponies in our dorm, but an entire club for us is going to be nuts. I can already hear conversation from inside the room, so, with nothing else for it, I walk through the door.
Yeah, I think all of the bat ponies on campus got the message.
The room is packed with about fifty other bat ponies. Fifty other bat ponies all my age. This is going to be so weird. I notice that they're all wearing lanyards with name tags, so Night Blade and I go to a table at the front of the room and grab one for myself.
"I've never seen this many bat ponies before!" I say as I put the lanyard on.
"I have. When your parents work for Princess Luna and you also don't have a small extended family... this is giving me flashbacks to my family reunions and night guard barbecues."
"I'm a little nervous," I mutter. "I mean... it's only been me until last week."
"Well, not anymore," Night Blade says, nudging me further into the room. "Let's go mingle."
I notice a table with various refreshments on it, so I head that way and nab myself a plate to get some cookies and brownies. Never did lose my sweet tooth. As I put a small stack of peanut butter cookies on my plate, I see somepony else out of the corner of my eye get in line behind me. I turn to him with a nervous smile, but blink in shock when I see him.
He's white. Like, snow white. With red eyes.
He sees my shock and smirks at me. "Yeah, I always get at least that reaction."
I blush and flatten my ears. "Oh... yeah, sorry. Didn't mean to... you know..."
"Not a problem," he says, grabbing a plate of his own. "Bat ponies are rare, and albino bat ponies even more so. I'm fairly used to at the very least a double-take." He puts his plate down and extends his hoof. "I'm Night Shadow, but most ponies just call me Blizzard. Three guesses why."
"Uh, Nice to meet you, Night. I'm Comet Screech Powell."
"Nice to meet you as well." He picks his plate back up and puts a mint brownie on it. "So, were are you from?"
"I was raised in Canterlot for a bit, but I've lived in Ponyville most of my life," I reply. "I haven't been to Canterlot in a few years, actually."
"Interesting. Why CMU, then?"
I motion to my cutie mark. "Talent in poison. I'm studying to be a toxicologist."
"Nice." He motions to his own cutie mark, which is a half-full syringe. "I'm going into anesthesiology myself."
I smirk at him. "So you're going to poison them, and I'm going to figure out what you poisoned them with?"
He nods. "Exactly. We're a match made in paradise already."
I blush again and, despite myself, let out a little giggle. "Sounds like a plan to me, uh..." I frown and tilt my head. "So what should I call you?"
"Blizzard is fine."
I nod. "So yes. Sounds like a plan to me, Blizzard." The two of us get our punch, then make our way over to an empty table. "So I'm from Canterlot but was raised in Ponyville. How about you?"
"Vanhoover of all places," he replies. "My parents are both doctors, so it wasn't too much of a shock to them that I've ended up here. Both of them did, as well as my dad's sister and my mom's cousin. Pretty sure there's a plaque around here somewhere dedicated to my granddad. He had pretty philanthropic tendencies."
"Same with my dad," I said. "He's a writer who wrote some popular books, so he's donated a lot to Ponyville's local library and the schools there. It wouldn't surprise me if he wrote some checks for this place as well."
"I know how that can be," Blizzard replies. "So when did you move from Canterlot to Ponyville?"
"When I was about eight. My biological parents gave me up for adoption right when I was born, and my real parents adopted me and took me to Ponyville with them."
"Well, I'm glad that you didn't age out of the system, then," he says.
"Thought I would," I admit, poking at a cookie. "I was the only bat pony at the orphanage, and I didn't get many interviews from the prospective parents. I think one of the reasons my parents adopted me is that their family was pretty unique, too."
"Yes, I know how that can be." Blizzard motions to himself. "I didn't exactly have any ponies around who... looked like me, shall we say. We were a nocturnal family, so it's not like I got to even see any white day ponies."
"I guess that would be rough," I say. "We do have a couple of white day ponies in Ponyville."
"Even so, I doubted that I'd ever see any albino day ponies, much less somehow run into an albino bat pony," Blizzard says, picking up a brownie. "It made lift a tad... difficult sometimes. My fellow foals could be a bit cruel about the way I look."
My eyes widen and I nod vigorously. "Totally know what that's like! I used to be picked on a lot in the orphanage when I was younger. There were a couple of fillies who were really nasty about it, too, but they got adopted when I was six." I scoff. "Hurt a bit that terrors like them were adopted, but I wasn't even given a second look because I have bat wings, cat eyes and fangs. "Rat wing" was a popular nickname for me over there."
"Ah, the name calling," Blizzard says with an almost wistful tone. "I was never anything but perfectly polite to my classmates, and it's not like all of them were horrible, but same as you: I had a few that seemed to take pleasure in tormenting me. I was never beaten up, of course, but they'd call me names and steal things and put them in my saddlebags so it looked like I was the thief and so on. Never really figured out what they got out of it."
"Some ponies are just cocks," I reply before taking a bite out of my cookie.
"Cocks indeed."
And from there we just talk. One previous outcast to another. Neither his looks nor my dad's books come up even once, which is kind of nice. That's usually one of the first things that ponies ask me about. Some other ponies sit at our table after a little bit, and we get to shooting the breeze about whatever, but I do my best to talk with Blizzard as much as I can.
Eventually it hits eight, and the ponies who are left start filing out. Blizzard and I haven't left our table, but we stand up once the remaining food starts to get cleared up.
"Well, it's been fun," he says as we walk toward the door. "Shall I be seeing you next week, then?"
I vigorously nod. "Totally! Yeah, it would be great to get to see you again." I blush as I realize how that sounds. "And... you know, interact with other bat ponies and learn stuff about... them."
He chuckles and nods as well. "Yes, that sounds fun. See you then." With that, he walks out of the room, leaving me behind and blushing furiously. So, naturally, that's when Night Blade decides to come up behind me and hug me tight.
"Ooh, you two hit it off! When's the first date?"
"Eep!" I flinch back and flare my wings out. "Shut up, Night! We're just friends. We only met two hours ago."
Night Blade shoots me a knowing smile. "Mhm. Good luck with that. You two made a connection, and he's in his first year just like you! You won't have to do a year of college without him. What fortune!"
I groan and facehoof. "You're a ditz. Anyway, I have class tomorrow at eight. We should get to bed."
"Guess so." Her ears perk up. "And I can tell you about some of the bat ponies I met! I know you were too busy talking to your boyfriend, but there was this one pony from Baltimare who--"
And with that, I let her ramble on, thinking back on Blizzard. Yeah, we're just friends. We've only known each other for two hours. Sure, he knows a lot of what I'm feeling when it comes to being the only one of somepony in your area, and he's smart and funny and whatnot, but we've only known each other for a few hours.
Can't wait to see him next week, though.