A butter coloured pegasus wearing a grey pinstriped blazer stood at a table. She was pulling a pile of books from her bag as well as some notes. In front of her were a large number of seats, all of them pointed to the bottom center of the room. Sitting in the seats were ponies, zebras, a few dragons, and griffins. All of them had notebooks open and small tables at their seats. Various conversations could be heard as others spilled into the room.
“Please pick up a syllabus when you enter,” she said. A few who were sitting down got up from their seats and approached a table near the bottom entrance of the room. On top of it was a large pile of papers. The papers dwindled down as those entering the room picked one up. The pegasus looked up at a clock above the entrance way. It read 4:00. “Alright, I think that’s enough time.” She took her notes to a podium in front of a chalkboard. A piece of chalk was grabbed and she wrote on the board. When she was done she turned to her audience. A few were still trying to find seats. She took in a deep breath. You can do this Fluttershy. It’s just like when you were a TA, only you don’t have anypony to help you when you stumble. Just relax.
“Hello,” she said. “My name is Professor Fluttershy. I just got my PhD in Literary Studies, so that means that you’re the first class I’m officially teaching. I’ll try my best to be a proper teacher. And if I do my job properly and you all pass with flying colours, then I’ll personally buy you all a pint by the end of the semester.” The entire auditorium chuckled.
“Before we begin,” she continued.“Is everyone in the right class? This is EN-116.” A few ponies and a dragon got up out of their seats and left the room. The dragon raised her hand.
“Professor?” she asked. “Do you know where the Equestrian Civilization from the Enlightenment to the Present class is?”
“That class is HI-105 right?” the dragon nodded. “That’s in the east side of this building. I believe it should be in room 350.” The dragon gave a quick thanks and ran out of the door. When the door closed, Fluttershy turned her attention back to the audience.
“Now that that’s done, back to the introduction,” she moved a strand of hair out of her eyes. “This is EN-116, Early Romantic Literature. We’re going to look at the very early stages of the romantic period in Equestrian history. We’ll see how the environment affected literature and how it differed from the era before it. Please turn to the third page of your syllabus; there you’ll see how your marks will be distributed.” The sound of turning papers echoed in the room. A small smile was on Fluttershy’s face. So far so good.
“There will be three optional assignments that will be given out during the semester. You are only allowed to do one, I repeat, one of these optional assignments. Each of them will be worth one percent of your mark. While it may not seem like much, just remember that one percent can turn your seventy-nine into an eighty. Now,” Fluttershy turned to the chalkboard. She wrote the word ‘romanticism’ on the board and drew a circle around it. “Who can tell me what romanticism is?”